Secret Identity, Public Knowledge
by KKCopper
Summary: Bullock has had enough and finally decides to take matters into his own hands concerning Batman, but when he accidentally discovers the Dark Knights indentity, what will become of the Dynamtic Duo? and what does this mean for the JL and YJ? *no OC*
1. Because of Bullock

_**(A/N: This idea came to me last night and I have BIG plans for this story, so it's going to be rather long~ I hope you guys enjoy it~**_

_**ALSO, I've decided to split it into parts instead of making several books it will just be one REALLY long one xD I'd planned on doing one thing with the plot line at first but my ideas have changed around… anyhoo I hope u like the change~ u won't notice It but I will so~**_

_**SPECIAL THANKS to a few people first though: **_Ivee Waterlily, Reina Grayson, cooliochick5 _**for helping me figure out the title**_, _**and ESPECIALLY **_zotSOS _**for coming up with it ^-^, may the squiggles be with you~ all four of these people have AWESOME YJ stories and I highly recommend reading them!)**_

**Part 1: Batman and Robin**

Bruce sat in his office at home with a pen in his hand, but he wasn't doing any of his work. Instead, he was just glaring at the computer screen in front of him… He was too angry to do anything but think, not move.

The main thing he was thinking about was this whole situation. He felt like he'd failed to keep up his reputation now, like he'd failed as the Dark Knight to let any of this happen. So much for his awesome detective skills….

He was trapped and vulnerable now… he couldn't go out without something happening, whether it was just the stares or an actual attack, something WOULD happen, he was sure of that much, so he couldn't go out… not yet at least…

Luckily for him though, through all of this he'd kept one friend he didn't think he could really bare to lose; Commissioner Gordon. He'd been so helpful through this, still treating him the same, and even going so far as to offer some of his better men to help guard his house so nothing would happen… Bruce accepted, but he didn't really think they'd help too much if someone _really_ wanted to get to him…

It was the thought that counted.

He wasn't alone in all of this, how he was feeling, that was. Dick was in the same situation as he. Of course, for that Bruce was sorry, he didn't want Dick to be going through any of this… Heck, Bruce had hoped that _he_ would never have to go through any of this _either_… but he'd always considered it, what would happen, in the back of his head.

Now, it was all reality and those thoughts were at the front of his mind…

How would he stay safe? Would he still go out at night? What about his family, his job? Would they be safe or not?

He was worried about Dick… They'd talked about it last night and had decided he should try to go to school today, see what happens, and then they'd decide whether or not he'd _keep_ going or be homeschooled… Gordon sent cops with him too, but they did little to calm Bruce's fears.

Then there was the League… and Dick's team. They probably wouldn't be able to go back to them… Bruce was sort of okay with that (even though he was the leader of the team… Superman would take over for him and he could still help from his home somewhat) but he knew Dick was upset. He'd miss he team… they were his only _true_ friends.

All of this, every little bit of trouble it had cause him and those he'd cared about was the reason for his anger, but it wasn't just anger, no, it was focused on one man… A man who'd shared something he wasn't supposed to, without having permission to know it in the first place.

Bruce hated few people, currently two at the moment; the man who killed his parents and the man who killed Dick's, but now he had a good reason to hate a third. Granted, the man had lost his job, but that wasn't enough justice in Bruce's eyes.

No, all of this was Bullock's fault, and he needed to pay.

_**(A/N: And there's my intro~ I hope you guys enjoyed it. The next chapter will go back a day or so and show you what happened. Then, we'll go from there. Review~ and I'll continue~)**_


	2. Taking Matters into his own Hands

_**(A/N: Yeah! I already have five reviews and four-five favs/alerts~! Thanks guys that means so much to me!**_

_**Here's the next chapter~ I hope you guys enjoy ^-^~)**_

**Two Days Ago**

Bullock was sitting in his office in the middle of the evening, legs propped up on his desk, eating a donut, nothing unusual for him… He was a bit bored, waiting for a good call to come in so he could see some action.

Of course, even then, action was not guaranteed, especially not with Batman and Robin always roamin' around. They always seem to pop in and get all of the problem cleaned up before Bullock even has the chance.

Bullock scowled to himself as he took a vicious bite out of his donut at the thought… He really disliked the Bat, he always acted like he was above the law, taking it into his own hands, and _that's_ what pissed him off. NO ONE was above the law, they were all bound to it, and if they broke it they were punished…

Of course, everyone thought he was silly to hate Batman they way he did. Everyone saw him as a _hero_, someone who helps… but if he was a real hero, then why did he hide under that black cowl of his? A hero shouldn't keep themselves a secret… it just wasn't right, it made them look suspicious.

This sentence sparked an idea into Bullock's head. He smiled to himself; he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before!

Bullock looked out his window and rose from his desk, grabbing his coat and throwing it on before heading out the door. He left without really announcing it and began to head through the streets of Gotham, his eyes on the sky.

He was going to take matters into his own hands.

…. …. …. …. ….

Batman and Robin swung effortlessly on their grappling hooks through downtown Gotham. They were on patrol, just another routine night, and so far it'd been pretty quiet.

Robin perched himself on the ledge at the top of the building they were on and looked around.

"It's been relatively eventless tonight…" he noted out loud, "I guess none of the loons have broken out of Arkham yet… or they haven't decided to make a move tonight, at least."

Batman nodded in silent agreement, although Robin hadn't been specifically speaking to him. "Indeed… I say we make one more loop though before we head back."

Robin nodded and he sprung up and over the ledge, shooting out his hook with his signature laugh after falling several feet down. Batman shook his head and followed less dramatically… little did both know that they weren't the only ones making a route…

Bullock watched from the shadows of an alley as the Dynamic Duo swung on overhead. He scowled, putting his toothpick in his mouth before he began to follow. He'd been taking cabs and buses all night to keep up with them… He'd thought once about going home and grabbing his motorcycle, but he knew that'd be too obvious, too loud…

He knew where they were going, though, so he called a taxi and he followed to a place farther ahead. He flashed his badge so the man sped up… another thought had just occurred to him.

He really didn't need to follow them anymore, he should just find the Batmobile, tag it, and then wait from there. It'd be simple (as long as he wasn't caught)…

Bullock got out of the taxi in front of the Wayne Building (which was one of the stops in Batman's route, he'd discovered) and looked around. He decided here would be as good a place as any to start looking for the infamous Batmobile. Bullock scoffed, shoving his hands into his coat pockets as he chewed on his toothpick, he doubted he'd find it… but, it was worth a shot.

He began to walk, checking through all of the alleyways, and making a sort of circle around the building that slowly grew out… He just kept getting farther from the building, and he was beginning to lose hope… Not really looking where he was going, he suddenly bumped into something.

"Oof…" he grumbled, stumbling back a bit. That's when he noticed what he'd come across and his eyes widened in shock.

There, only a few mere feet in front of him, was the slick, black Batmobile.

Bullock just stood there for a bit, staring at it, _admiring_ it… He was sort of awestruck. Sure, he'd seen it driving around before, but he'd never _really_ gotten a good look at it.

It was a fine piece of a machine AND technology, that was for sure…

Finally, he shook his head, pulling himself out of the daze he was in. He then went to work, pulling out a tracking device from his pocket and going over to the back of the vehicle and sliding it behind the metal wheel in the tire. He made sure it was snug and well hidden before giving the vehicle one last glance over and leaving… He already had the tracker for the device ready. He would get his cycle now and be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

He _would_ unmask the Bat tonight, his determination wouldn't allow for anything less.

…. …. …. …. ….

Robin sighed as they landed on top of a building near Wayne Tech. He was in his squatted position on the ledge yet again as he looked around longingly, willing something interesting to happen.

No such luck.

"Tonight was _boring_…" he grumbled under his breath, scrunching up his nose a bit. Batman chuckled from behind him.

"Isn't that a good thing…?" he questioned and Robin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, kind of… I guess…" he finally decided. Then he muttered under his breath, "It depends on whose side you're looking at…"

Batman shook his head a bit, smiling slightly at the way the boy said it. He placed a hand on Dick's shoulder and the domino mask made itself known, now looking at him.

"Let's go home," Bruce said. Robin nodded and they stood up, leaping over several buildings before dropping off of the roofs and landing next to the Batmobile.

Bruce hit the button and the top slid effortlessly open. Dick climbed in, and Bruce was about to too… when he got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He froze and scanned the surrounding area, looking for any signs of danger…

He found none.

"What's a matter?" Robin asked, propping himself up a bit and looking around too, ready for anything and eager for it too.

Batman just shook his head. "It's nothing…" he said, "just thought I saw something."

Dick shrugged and settled back into his seat as Bruce got in and started up the vehicle. He knew something had set off Bruce's "sixth sense" as he referred to it as… and he wondered what. The Bat never got _false signals_… He decided it wasn't that big if he hadn't noticed anything.

He wouldn't know until later how wrong he was.

…. …. …. …. ….

He sat on his Hawg, waiting patiently for the dot to start to move. Just then, it did. He smiled to himself and flipped down his visor before slamming down on his motorcycle, starting it up and then peeling out of his garage and down the street.

He moved around with ease. Bullock knew Gotham and its streets like the back of his hand, so his mind had quickly calculated the quickest and stealthiest route the second he'd started to move… He'd catch up with the Bat in no time, of that he was sure.

Of course, no time goes by rather quickly… Bullock knew he shouldn't get too close or else they might hear him or see his lights and get suspicious… He slowed down but didn't worry about the sound or lights just yet… When they started to head out of town, though, he dulled his engine a bit and decided to turn off his headlights… sure it made it harder to see, but he knew he'd be fine… as long as he wasn't caught.

The dot kept going and so did Bullock, but when it suddenly turned onto a place that wasn't a road, Bullock got a bit confused. It cleared after a second though when he realized they must be close to wherever the Bat hid- stayed at… His heartbeat picked up a bit in his anxiety, but he wasn't really nervous…

Bullock paused on his bike whenever he got to the place where the dot had turned. He then inched his bike foreword through the bushes and a sign until he saw the other side; it was a road.

Bullock's smile returned... He drove along very slowly and quietly for a while before finally ditching his bike in the brush and continuing the rest of the way on foot.

He kept silent but went quickly thought the brush. He only stepped on one branch, which made him freeze, but no one had heard.

Bullock was ready with his camera in one hand as he began to hear the quiet_ thrum_ of the engine… This was it. He'd get to see where the Bats _lived_.

He began to see the faint lights coming from the taillights and he instinctively hid himself. Then, he began to crawl forward, so as not to be seen… Then, he froze as he realized what he was looking at… more out of surprise then self-preservation but –

The Batmobile was paused near the edge of a cliff, which was facing towards another cliff that was about seven meters or so away… The lights on the Batmobile flashed and the ledge of the cliff suddenly (yet slowly) started to come down as a bridge.

Bullock whipped out his camera and quickly activated its night setting (so the flash wouldn't go off and began to take pictures)… After about three or four pictures though, he fully realized where they were it… He recognized it, too.

He almost dropped his camera in shock, but managed to keep his grip on it. He quickly took a few more pictures before fully allowing himself to take in what he was seeing.

The cliff… the cliff that the Batmobile had driven into (a cave was there, he assumed), was no ordinary cliff… There was a dwelling on top of it, one Bullock knew. Heck, it was one everyone knew…

Bullock's eyes drifted up and he saw the dark silhouette of the massive structure there. Suddenly, a flash of lightning in the distance illuminated the whole seen and Bullock could see clearly what he already knew was there.

Wayne Manor… Batman's real identity… was Bruce Wayne.

The thunder rumbled in the distance as rain began to fall…

_**(A/N: I hope that was as dramatic for you as I imagined it in my head… I see this whole book as a sort of movie and music plays in my head for each scene~ This one was really dramatic so I added thunder in various places. I thought it would just add to the story~**_

_**I hope you guys liked this chapter! Now review!)**_


	3. Playboy Under the Cowl

_**(A/N: OMG guys I am so honored by all of the response I am getting to this! Thank you so much, it means a lot to me! **_

_**Now, enjoy~~ =P)**_

**The Next Day**

Alfred came down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning, as per usual, and instantly got to work. He started off by getting the coffee going, and then he began to work on breakfast, which included omelets, homemade bread (which he made last night) and freshly squeezed orange juice…

He'd just begun to work on mixing together the ingredients for the omelets whenever he heard a light _thump_ on the door which meant the paperboy had somehow managed to get the paper to the step yet again. Alfred wasn't quite sure how he did it (since the gate was locked), whether he simply scaled the gate and delivered it (which he highly doubted since they had such a high security at the gate and walls) or if he used a sling shot. He shrugged, deciding it didn't really matter, as long as the paper was on the steps every morning, the boy would be unquestioned.

Alfred worked on the omelets for a while before pouring it into the slowly warming skillet. Then, he decided that would give him enough time to set the table for Master Bruce and Master Dick and get the paper (Bruce always liked the paper and some coffee prior to breakfast) before they needed to be turned….

Alfred headed over to the cabinets and got out the plates, balancing them on one arm with ease as he also got some silverware and glasses and added them to the stack. Then, he grabbed the glass pot of coffee with his remaining free hand and headed out to the Dining Room.

Alfred began to hum a song to himself as he set the table, coffee mug still in hand. He wouldn't pour Bruce's coffee until he came down, and he didn't want to possibly scorch the table (though, because of its value, it probably wouldn't, but he didn't care take the chance) so he just kept it.

Once the table was set, Alfred (still humming) headed to the front door to get the Gotham Gazette from the concrete steps.

He bent over and picked it up, starting to sing the song on his mind as he glanced over the title. He turned around and headed back inside, paper in one hand, coffee in the other.

"_The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me –" _Alfred had started signing when the words he'd read suddenly clicked in his mind. He cut off his words, mid stanza, and whipped his head around to look back at the paper, praying his eyes were playing tricks on him.

They weren't.

Alfred's heart skipped a beat and the coffee pot slowly slipped out of his now loose hand and hit the floor with a _crash_, glass flying and coffee spilling everywhere… Alfred didn't even flinch. He was too intensely focused on the article in front of him.

Bruce had been about half-way down the stairs when he heard the shattering of glass. He instantly sprinted down the last few steps and headed into the Dining Room where he saw Alfred, just standing there, with the broken pot and coffee at his feet.

Bruce headed over to his butler, pausing a few feet behind him.

"Alfred?" he asked. When the butler made no move suggesting he even heard Bruce, he stepped forward and gently shook his father-figures' shoulder before speaking again, "_Alfred_, what's wrong?"

Alfred jumped a bit, getting pulled out of his concentration. He looked a bit dazed with a hand on his head as his gaze drifted around the room, from Bruce to the floor. Then, his eyes widened a bit as he finally noticed the mess he made.

"Oh, Master Bruce, I'm sorry. I'll clean it up right away and start a new –" he began to apologize whenever Bruce quickly cut him off.

"Alfred, no wait, it's okay, you can put that off for a moment," he said sternly. Alfred looked up at him and Bruce continued. "What's wrong? _What happened?"_

Alfred sucked in a slow breath and then let it out. He glanced at the paper before handing it out to Bruce.

"I think you should read this…" he finally said, "and while you do, I'll clean up this mess and make breakfast." He then headed back off into the Kitchen without another word.

Bruce watched Alfred leave before looking down at the newspaper in my hand. Of course, the first thing that catches your eye is always the Main Article's title, which is printed in bold, and the words he read there just about gave him a heart attack…

"**PLAYBOY UNDER THE COWL – Boy Billionaire is the Dark Knight?"**

Under the large title was a picture of the Batmobile going into its Cave… with Wayne Manor also in the shot.

His first thought after this was not "Why?" but "WHO?" _Who_ on earth had it out for him enough that they would actually care to see him unmasked, he had a feeling it wasn't anyone like the Joker or most of his villains, for that matter, they all enjoyed toying with him too much to make sure he couldn't BE Batman anymore…

So, if not them, than _who?_

The small italics under the photo seemed to scream to him as he read the name printed there. Bruce's teeth snapped together and the paper wrinkled on the edges as he reflexively tightened his grip in response to his anger.

He quickly began to skim over the article, trying to see what was said about this… That's when another line seemed to catch his eye…

"_We're going to be showing live footage this morning at six thirty and another repeat later today at twelve –"_ was as far as Bruce read before he was heading into the living room, paper still in hand as he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Right now, it was 6:15 a.m.

Bruce slowly sat down on the couch, paper still in hand as he went to the news channel on their TV, then he waited, not even glancing at the newspaper again as a commercial on Chevys played.

A slight creak could be heard as a young man came down the stairs. He was still half asleep so he wasn't into his full, normal stealth mode… either way, Bruce would have heard his descent, stealthy or not.

Dick leapt off of the steps at the third to bottom stair and was about to head towards the Dining Room when he heard the TV and realized Bruce was in the Living Room. Confused, he decided to go check out what was going on.

Bruce didn't even look up as Dick made his way over to his father-figure, pausing beside him.

"Hey, Bruce, what's up?" he asked, his voice having a hint of concern and worry to it. Bruce had sort of hidden the paper whenever he'd heard Dick coming down. He didn't want to worry his son over this, but it was something that couldn't be hidden for long, considering how trivial this was to his life, really.

The two of them stood there for a while, neither speaking until, finally, Bruce sucked in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. He turned his head to look at Dick, who met his gaze.

"_How do I tell him that all of Gotham, and then some, knows he's Robin now, and that he may or may not ever be able to be his alias ever again?"_ Bruce thought to himself for a second before he simply decided to hand Dick the paper, words just wouldn't come to him, at least, not the right ones anyways.

Dick took the paper and slowly read the words printed there in front of him. He had to reread it about four times before what was there finally sunk in.

The paper fell from his grasp in shock.

"They know…" he whispered in horror, his face going a bit pale. Bruce watched Dick as he thought this all over, his expression grim.

"How… _who?"_ he muttered to himself, eventually walking around and sinking down on the couch next to Bruce. Bruce hesitated a second, glancing at the boy next to him, before he put an arm around Dick's shoulder. Dick easily accepted the embrace and leaned into Bruce's side.

"WHO?" he repeated again and this time he was asking Bruce and not just thinking aloud.

The hand Bruce had around Dick's shoulder clenched into a fist.

"Harvey Bullock," he growled and Dick's eyes widened in surprise again. He bolted upright.

"But WHY, what did we ever do to him? We've always helped the GCPD, never hurt them… WHY would he want our identities to be known if it meant we couldn't _go out_ again?" Dick began to rant. Finally he ended it, though, on a childish note. "It's not fair!"

Bruce couldn't have said it better himself. He was about to comment whenever the news came on.

Both boys whipped their heads around, instantly gluing their eyes to the screen as Summer Gleeson began to speak.

"It's the story everyone is talking about, the story everyone knows about, and if you don't yet, you better stay here and turn up the volume because you won't want to miss this Gothamites… We've discovered the identity of Batman," she said with perfect pauses and everything. Bruce scowled and Dick leaned back into Bruce again, shuddering. He was freaking out.

The dreaded photo from the newspaper article showed up on the screen.

"This is the photo that was taken last night by our own Harvey Bullock, who has agreed to be interviewed," Summer continued. The photo disappeared and now Bullock was standing next to Summer.

"Now, Lieutenant Bullock, what made you want to do this in the first place?" Summer asked him, and it was the question both Bruce and Dick were dying to know the answer to…

Bullock, toothpick in mouth as usual, scowled. "A hero shouldn't hide their face if they really are the good guys, and Gotham deserved to know just WHO is 'watching over' them every night."

"Had you ever considered the fact that they'd kept their identity's a secret for a _reason_?" she hinted. It seemed like she was on their side, just doing her job.

"Yeah, well robbers hide their face for a reason, too, so they can't get pinned for a crime," Bullock snapped. "People consider cops heroes, and we don't hide our faces."

Bruce noticed Summer roll her eyes slightly, but she hid it rather well.

"What was your reaction to finding out WHO Batman really was?" she questioned him.

This time, Bullock didn't answer right away, thinking about it.

"Well, I can say I was genuinely shocked –" he started to say whenever someone shouting could be heard off screen.

"BULLOCK!" the voice bellowed. Bullock glanced off screen and gulped.

"Keep rolling," Summer whispered as a very angry officer came onto screen.

"Hey Commish –" Bullock started to say when Gordon exploded.

"WHAT ON EARTH MADE YOU DO THIS? WERE YOU OUT OF YOUR _MIND_?" he shouted at Harvey.

"It had to be done!" he shouted back, though not as fiercely. "I've always known he was –"

"That's RIGHT YOU have always _thought_. YOU were the only one who ever doubted him! I know you had it out for him, you two never really got along, but I KNOW he's saved your butt before, so WHY did you DO IT?" Gordon growled.

Bruce was a bit touched by Gordon's reaction to this. He'd have to call him up later and talk to him about all of this and what they should do about it… He hoped they still stayed friends, he didn't want to lose Gordon as a friend, he'd miss him.

Bullock opened his mouth to try and speak again whenever Gordon interrupted him.

"No, you know what? You've gone _too far_ this time. You're FIRED," Gordon told him sharply and Bullock's face instantly became one of shock.

"Yes!" Bruce heard Dick whisper under his breath and his lips twitched in amusement… It did sort of fell good that Gordon gave them some justice for what he did… but Bruce didn't quite think him just getting fired would be enough to satisfy the anger he still felt towards the man…

"I'm WHAT?" he asked.

"_Fired_, turn in your badge, you have one day to pack up all of you things and get out of the Police Department. If you're not out by then –" he let the threat hang.

Bullock scowled, fuming silently as he got out his badge and put it in Gordon's open hand.

"You're going to regret doing this Gordon!" he snapped.

"No I'm not, now _leave_," he growled. Then, he turned to face the camera. "Get that thing off of me!" he snapped and covered the lens up with his hand. The screen went black and then it went back to the studio people…

Bruce turned off the TV with a muttered sigh. This whole thing was just terrible. He wondered how many other cities knew yet, he was certain the League knew already but he wasn't sure how many other civilians would know.

What was he going to do? That basically had just destroyed half of his life. Gotham City couldn't have a Batman anymore, not without Alfred, Luscious, or anyone else Bruce cared about now being on "hit lists".

Bruce thought about this for a while before finally just getting out his phone. He stood up and headed into a different room as he dialed the familiar number… He wondered if he would answer.

It rang once… twice.

"Hello?" a voice said, it sounded a bit hoarse.

Bruce sighed, reverting to his Batman tone as he spoke.

"I wasn't sure if you'd answer," he said honestly. The man on the other line chuckled a bit under his breath.

"I was wondering when you'd call."

_**(A/N: Okay~ so there it is! Who's Bruce talking to? O_o its gonna be a mystery until I update! I appreciate guesses though~ OH BTW the song Alfred is singing is called "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is anyone wanted to know, it's by **__**The Beatles**___

_**Again, I'm REALLY honored by all of the feedback I'm getting from this guys! You rock! Now, review and I may update sooner =P) **_


	4. Over the Phone

_**(A/N: I'm going to try and update at LEAST once every two days~ The more reviews the quicker the update too! BTW there is **__NO slash__** here! Just Wally being a good friend *I couldn't write a good slash even if I **_**wanted**_** to so XD* ^-^**_

_**OH one more thing… so many of you guessed**_ Superman_** and so, guess what, you actually influenced me to add a bit to it! He wasn't originally even in the picture =P So thank you, because I was actually a bit in need of length on this one~ See what reviews do! Thank you! Now enjoy~)**_

Dick just sat on the couch, staring at the black TV in front of him… None of this seemed real to him, it just couldn't be. He'd never even dreamed this would happen, so… it couldn't be real… could it?

Just then, his phone vibrated in the pockets on the sweatpants he'd warn to bed. Slowly, Dick fished it out and checked to see what was up.

"_One new message – Wally West"_ the screen read. Dick hit "read".

"Hey dude, I heard bout wat happened. Im so srry, tht sux," he'd texted.

Dick sighed, running a shaky hand threw his hair before texting back.

"Yeah… it does, majorly," he replied and then his send.

Wally took only seconds to send him back another text.

"So wat r u gonna do? Wat bout the team?" he asked.

"…I really don't no what Im gonna do… and it sort of scares me," he told his friend honestly.

This time, Wally did pause a while before replying.

"I'm coming over," he said simply when he did send a text back. Dick sighed, he knew there was no stopping his friend at this point, he'd be here in a little under a minute… He just hoped Bruce wouldn't mind.

Only twenty seconds later, Dick heard a knock at the door. He closed his eyes, laying his head back on the couch while he listened to Alfred answer it.

"Why, hello Master Wally… Dick is in the Living Room I believe," Alfred greeted the speedster, his voice carrying through the halls and to Dick's expert ears.

"Thanks Alfred," Wally replied.

Dick listened as his friend came down the hall…and then sat next to him.

"Dude, I know you're not asleep," he said after a while. Dick opened one eye to look at his best friend.

"A guy can pray," he teased with a slight smirk on his face.

"Thanks," Wally said, placing a dramatic hand on his heart, "I run all the way over here to hang out with my best bud in his hour of need –" Dick snickered, even though it was sort of true "– and you sit here insulting me. I'm hurt."

Dick slugged his friend in the shoulder. _"Man up,"_ he said, shaking his head in disbelief. Wally smiled, but then his face became serious.

"So it was Bullock who did this?" he asked and Dick nodded.

"Yeah… how did you find out?" he asked, not out of disbelief that his friend knew, but curiosity on how the word was being spread.

"Uncle Barry told me… and then we watched it on the news," he said, kind of wincing a bit. "I'm sorry."

"You said that already," Dick groaned, putting a hand on his head. He was stressing out a bit and it was giving him a headache.

Wally patted his friend on the shoulder. "We should gather up the team… Get your mind off of this. We could just hang out… or…"

"OR talk about this and what the heck I'm gonna do about it," Dick finished for him. "Yeah, THAT will get my mind off of it."

Wally sighed, rolling his eyes. "Okay, so, if not that, what DO you want to do?"

Dick peered up at his friend. "Well, I did manage to get my hands on Call of Duty: MW3 and –"

Wally's eyes lit up and he instantly cut his friend off in his excitement. "That hasn't even come out yet!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Dick laughed. "I haven't opened it yet, either. My Xbox 360 is already hooked up in my room –" he tried to say, but his friend cut him off yet again.

"I call the blue controller!" he shouted before dashing up the stairs.

"Hey! Not fair, you have _super speed_," Dick called out, racing after his friend.

Wally's laugh echoed down the stairs.

"I'm still gonna whoop your butt!" Dick shouted as he headed into his room. His worries were momentarily forgotten as the two started up the game system and began to play. Wally smiled; _mission accomplished._

…. …. …. …. ….

Bruce sighed, not quite sure what to say. "Yeah… after what I saw on TV I decided it would be best to talk with you…" he finally spoke.

"Ah… you _did_ see that… Well, I should have assumed as much considering it was about you. I'd have watched too if the situation had been reversed," Gordon said, nodding to himself as he drove his car back to the police station.

Bruce took in a deep breath before finally saying what had been on his mind when he'd dialed the phone.

"Thank you… what you did out there… it meant a lot to me," he said honestly.

"Of course, you're my friend," Gordon told him just as honestly. Bruce smiled to himself.

There was a pause before either spoke again, and when they did, Gordon spoke up first.

"So… is it true? Are you really Bruce Wayne? I mean, the picture could be a fake…" he asked.

Bruce paused, he could deny it, he wanted to so bad… but he knew it would do no good… The truth was already out there, and though it sucked, he'd have to live with it. Besides, he'd always wanted to tell Jim, and now was his chance.

"Yes… I'm Bruce Wayne," he finally said. Gordon sighed on his end of the phone, running a hand through his hair.

"Wow… I never would have guessed that," he mumbled to himself.

Bruce grunted. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he questioned.

Gordon chuckled a bit. "Nothing, it's just, you were so good at hiding it, so no one would ever suspect you…"

"That's the point of an alias," Bruce said, rolling his eyes a bit, but a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

"Look… even though I know now… it's not going to change anything. Now, I'm not quite sure yet how people are going to react to this, but I'll do whatever I can to help you out, just know that, okay?" Gordon said sternly.

Bruce nodded, although he knew Gordon couldn't see it. "Alright, thank you," was his stiff reply. The offer meant more to him than the actual thought of help. Any amount of police offers wouldn't be able to handle the Joker if the Joker really wanted to get to him.

"Look, I have to go now; I'm at the police station." Gordon told him.

"I understand, good-bye Commissioner," Bruce said.

"Good-bye…" Gordon replied, not sure what to call him, so he just hung-up.

The second the phone announced "call ended", Bruce began to dial another number for he had one more call to make before he could really focus on anything else.

He wondered if the man would even pick up, it seemed like he never answered his cell phone anyways, but Bruce didn't want to call him at work, because then they really wouldn't be able to talk.

The phone rang… once… twice… a third time… and went to voicemail. The message started to play when it was suddenly cut off with a beep.

"Hello?"

"Ah, so you decided to pick up," Bruce said and the person on the other end of the line rolled their eyes.

"Yes, I did. I almost didn't, but when I saw it was you calling –" he began to say but Bruce cut him off.

"You realized it was important so you actually answered?" he finished and the person chuckled.

"Sure… well_ yes_, we do need to _talk_ because this… issue IS rather important. This revelation could put the whole League into a vulnerable area, what if they use your identity to find out ours? Have you considered that? If even one more of us have our cover blown because of this –" he began to rant, but Bruce quickly cut him off.

"It's _possible_ but not probable… and it hopefully WON'T happen. You'll all just have to be more careful," Bruce told him firmly.

"Look who's being an optimist for once, sort of," he grumbled. "But, Bruce, you honestly have to consider what we would do IF that were to happen! If the League's cover is blown entirely than –"

"That means no more heroes, I _understand_ that Clark! You think that wasn't one of the first things I THOUGHT about whenever I realized this had happened? It's worrying me to but we have to work to try and find a way to avoid that," Bruce told his teammate firmly.

Clark sighed, running a hand through his hair. There was a pause before he spoke again.

"We need to call a meeting, for _both_ teams, this involves them too through Robin," Clark suggested.

Bruce didn't speak for a second, thinking about it.

"What time?" he finally asked.

"The sooner the better," Clark said. "I'll contact J'onn and have him start calling everyone together. We'll be at the Watchtower of course and the teens will be at Mt. Justice…. I think we should give them some time to talk about all of this amongst themselves before we talk to them about it."

Bruce nodded. "I agree and they'll want to do that, anyways… I think they should meet _before_ us, I know Robin will want some time to talk with them about all of this since he WAS the only one who hadn't told them his identity and now they had to find out about it through someone who wasn't even SUPPOSED to know either of our identities in the first place… HECK, he shouldn't have been following us! No one gave him the right to do so and _I_ should have noticed him. I can't believe I didn't! I was too relaxed that night, I wasn't paying attention, I –"

"Bruce, this is NOT your fault!" Clark cut him off with a shout. He sighed then, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I knew you would do this whenever I heard about it, you always try to take the blame on yourself, but for once it's not even CLOSE to being your fault so STOP IT. Besides, you know what that does to Richard whenever you –"

"Don't you _dare_ pull the father card on me whenever you still neglect to even take the time to say one word to Connor," Bruce told him firmly.

Clark let out a harsh, audible breath. "No, we're NOT getting into that argument now Bruce, we have bigger things to talk about," he snapped.

"Then don't talk about my parenting skills or anything related to Dick and I's relationship," Bruce growled.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Clark told Bruce. "… Look, I'll cal J'onn and get him to get M'gann ready and I'll have him gather the rest of Young Justice, too. Why don't you just take Dick to the Mountain now?"

Bruce pressed his lips into a firm line, he felt like he was being ordered, and he hated that feeling, but he agreed.

"Fine, but tell J'onn for me not to call Barry, Wally is over here," Bruce said.

"Of course, I'll call you again later Bruce whenever we get the other meeting arranged… It will probably be in twenty minutes or so," Clark told him.

"Alright, I'll have my phone on me, as per usual," Bruce replied.

"Good-bye Bruce," Clark said.

"Good-bye Clark," Bruce replied, and then he hung up. He put his phone away and pinched the bridge of his nose… this was just too much at once, he was starting to get a headache.

He only let himself sort of "relax" for a little bit though before he got back to work, heading to his room first and changing into his outfit, keeping the cowl down as he went to the Dining Room next.

"Alfred, I'm sorry but we'll have to skip breakfast," he told the butler who simply nodded.

"I understand sir, just call if you need me to fix a quick Lunch or something," Alfred told Bruce, who nodded.

"Of course, thank you," he said with a slight smile.

Alfred placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "It's my job," was his simple reply before he headed back into the Kitchen to clean up.

After he was gone, Bruce turned around and headed upstairs and into Dick's room.

"Boys, get changed, we're going to the Mountain," he told them when they looked up from their video game. "You brought your outfit, right Wally?"

Wally nodded. "Yes sir," was his instinctive reply, he always felt like he had to be sort of formal around Bruce.

Bruce just nodded. "Then meet me in the cave in five minutes," he told them and then left.

_**(A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews, once again! They really do mean a lot to me, every single one~ The next chapter will mostly be all about Dick talking to his team about all of this… I hope you guys like it ^-^**_

_**Now REVIEW! =P) **_


	5. Meanwhile, at The Mountain

_**(A/N: STILL NO SLASH, just Wally and Roy bein' good friends~ Now, I hope you all enjoy, let's watch and see the Team's reaction~~~)**_

Dick and Wally headed down to the Batcave after changing and shutting off the Xbox. Dick quickly called shotgun before Wally could, cackling at his friend's expression before hopping into the ready vehicle.

When the vehicle started to move, the car grew quiet. Robin's mind was racing as he started to panic a little bit… He didn't know how his friends would react to this new news… Would their opinions of him change? Would they be upset that they had to find out this way? What if they had hated Dick Grayson?

What if- what if- what if? There was too many of those.

Just then, someone shook his shoulder and Robin jumped a bit. He turned back to look at Wally.

"Dude, you need to relax, it'll be fine," he told his best friend. Robin gave him a confused look.

"How'd you know I was worried? I tried not to show it on my face," he said and Wally rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you have that mastered, when you don't _want_ to show your emotions at least," he reassured Robin. "I just know you that well."

Robin slugged his friend in the shoulder. "Sure, sure," he said, snickering as Wally rubbed his arm.

"You punch hard," he complained and Robin laughed a bit louder.

"Boys…" Batman warned in a hard tone and the two of them grew quiet…

The drive only lasted about ten more minutes before the Mountain came into view. Batman dropped them off around back before he left.

Wally instantly began to head towards the entrance, but only got a few feet before noticing Robin wasn't following. He stopped and turned to face his friend, who was frozen in place.

"Dude, I've never seen you this nervous before… What's wrong besides the obvious reveal?" he questioned his bud, concern in his voice as he placed a hand on Dick's shoulder.

"What if they don't like the other side of me? What if they'd always consider Richard a brat? What if they're mad for finding out this way? What if –" he started whispering, but his voice had risen with each sentence. Wally quickly cut him off.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA, first off, to many 'what if's', those are _never_ right, and, secondly, Robin _seriously_, THAT'S what you're worried about?" Wally asked him, making sure he'd heard right.

Robin nodded his expression grave.

Wally cracked a smile. "Dude, someone finding out your alias is just them having another name to call you; you are _still_ the same _person_, same personality, and the SAME Robin they know, alright?"

Robin's eyebrows pinched together, he hadn't thought of it that way.

Wally put an arm around his friend's shoulder, starting to lead him forward. "Now, come on, it's all gonna be fine, I promise… I'm here for you dude."

Robin nodded, feeling a smidgen better, and the two of them headed inside.

"_Recognized, Robin B01… Recognized, Kid Flash B03,"_ the computer said as they entered the Mountain. Once inside, Robin paused again.

The whole team was already there in the Main Room (the one with the TV) waiting, what surprised Dick was that Spe- Red Arrow was there too. His nerves came back in a rush and his body locked into place.

Wally sighed, rolling his eyes, and got behind his friend and pushed him forward until Robin snapped out of it and walked the rest of the way. He paused right outside the circle of chairs, all eyes were on him.

The room was silent for a while, no one speaking and everyone still looking at Robin, until, finally, Kaldur broke the silence.

"Robin, we heard about what happened –" he began to say when suddenly Robin cut him off with a cry of anger as he punched the wall next to him.

"It's not fair!" he shouted. "You guys weren't supposed to find out this way! I was going to tell you myself in a few months if Batman didn't let me do it sooner, THAT'S how you were supposed to learn this, not because stupid Bullock decided to stalk us that night and then expose us once he'd –"

"Robin, stop, it's okay…" Megan quickly interrupted. "You know we still consider you our friend right, even though we know your other name, right? You're STILL Robin."

Dick just stood there, looking at them for a while, his face so completely emotionless that it was almost like a Batman face… Suddenly, he broke down, though. He collapsed onto the floor, his head in his knees as he sobbed.

Roy and Wally instantly reacted to their brother's action, and the team quickly followed in response. They all sort of hovered around him while Roy tried to coax Robin to tell them what was wrong, just to get it off his chest…. None of them (minus Wally and Roy) had ever seen Robin cry before, when they thought of him, they thought of this strong, cheerful boy who had mad ninja, acrobatic and hacking skills… Of course, when they learned his identity just recently, they also realized he'd watched his parents die at a young age, and they were all sorry for him for that, but that still didn't change their opinion of him much at all.

They all waited as he caught his breath, though a few tears still fell down his cheeks.

"I'm- I'm just stressed out… All of this is so sudden," Robin finally managed to get out, "it's wearing on me… and then I was worrying about how you guys would react and how my school friends are going to treat me… and then there's all of Gotham –"

"Okay, okay… how about we take some weight off of those shoulders of yours and talk this through, one possible issue at a time? It may help you relax a bit, too," Kaldur suggested helpfully while at the same time cutting short his friend's rant.

Robin was quiet for a bit, but he finally nodded. He still looked so… vulnerable though, so… SCARED, _that's_ what he was. The little bird was scared.

As the team slowly realized this, it brought to their sharp attention just _how much_ their friend had gone through in his young life… He'd watched his parents die at a young age, leaving him with no one, only to be taken in by total stranger (who turned out to be the best second Dad he could ask for) and then getting revenge at a still young age, along with all of this crime fighting. Take that and add this new dilemma on top of it and that was a big burden even for someone more around Bruce's age…

He was only 14…

"Look, let's clear up one thing right now," Superboy stepped in, a little bit livid at the world (okay, a LOT livid –) for making their youngest team member break down like this. He, like the rest of the team, loved Robin like a younger brother so this upset him. "Robin, our opinions of you haven't changed because of this, not at all. Just because we know your real name now, doesn't mean you're a completely different person! We all understand that an alias is an important thing to keep a secret, so however Richard must act isn't always how you would act. We've been on a team together for a year, we already have our view of you constructed, and I speak for all of us when I say that you are a good kid. You are still our friend and nothing will change that."

The rest of the team stared at him in shock. He usually didn't give big shpeels like that, but he'd basically taken everything that they were all thinking and put it to words, or rather (in simpler form) taken the words out of their mouths.

"Really?" Robin whispered, looking around at his teammates (and Roy). They all nodded without hesitation and that made Robin smile at them.

"Thanks guys, that means a lot to me," he told them, still smiling and mostly looking at Superboy who just nodded to him, his time for talking was over.

"Okay, that's one thing down –" Kaldur began to say, but Artemis cut in.

"Not to be insensitive, but if we're going to continue this can we at least move to the couches?" she suggested in her rough voice. Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement and they slowly made their ways over to the seats.

Now they were all in a circle, looking at one another; Roy was by Robin, still protecting his younger brother, Wally was on a one seater near his buddy, Artemis and Megan were on another couch, Superboy was on the ground, using the space between Artemis and Megan (who had her hand on Connor's hair, running her fingers through it absentmindedly; they'd been dating for two months now) as a back rest, and Kaldur was on a chair he'd swiped from the Kitchen.

"So… about how Gotham is going to treat you after this…" Artemis started.

"I'm sure their opinion won't change too much," Megan chimed in, optimist as per usual.

Robin rolled his eyes. "I doubt it; they're not like you guys. The only thing they've ever known about me is what they've seen on the news, and the fact that I am rich man Bruce Wayne's adopted son, once THIS new revelation blows around, all of that is going to change; side-glances, mistrust, the works."

"You don't know that," Wally said, but his defense was weak and even he knew it, he was trying to cheer his friend up.

"But I DO though," Robin groaned, burying his head in his hands, "all of my school friends aren't going to trust me anymore, and a lot of people are now going to openly hate me… Batman and Robin are people to be feared when it comes to certain people, and now that they know who we really are, they can get us at any time!"

No one spoke for a while, not sure how to respond to that… They all knew it was true, no matter how badly they didn't want it to be.

Finally, Roy spoke.

"When I'm not busy, I can always come and protect –" he started to suggest when Robin's head popped up.

"No! I don't want this situation to make me seem helpless either," he snapped harshly. "Even though they know, this also means I can defend myself openly, so I don't need guarding."

"But, Robin, we can help," Megan protested. "We _want _to!"

"Don't you think it would be better if you had people with you when you were out, even just us in our civilian form? There's safety in numbers," Kaldur pointed out.

Robin sighed, closing his eyes and pressing his head into his hands again. They could tell he was honestly thinking about it, so they gave him some silence.

Finally, he looked up, massaging his temples.

"All of this concern means a lot to me, it shows you care so it really does… but I feel like it'd be a waste of time –" he started to argue but Wally cut him off.

"It wouldn't be if it meant you didn't get attacked every day, besides it would just be like any of us hanging out as friends, even if there IS an ulterior motive behind it, no one has to know that," Wally told him.

Robin rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hand this time and let out a sigh.

"Alright, fine I agree it would be smart…" he said to them.

Kaldur nodded. "Good, then we'll all arrange times when we're free and take turns coming over for a day or two –"

Just then, the holographic computer flickered to life and the whole team grew quiet as they stared at the screen.

Batman and Superman's faces were the first to appear.

"Alright, as two of you very well know already, the Justice Leauge has called an emergency meeting to discuss this… situation, and you're now involved, so listen up and only speak when spoken too," was Batman's curt advice before their view zoomed out to reveal the large meeting room in the Watch Tower.

The meeting began.

_**(A/N: AH I just couldn't stand the thought of going two days without an update, so here it is, I hope you guys enjoyed it! *Review!* The next chapter will be on the meeting from the Watch Tower. Hope you like ^-^)**_


	6. Breaking Point

_**(A/N: Yeah! Reviews! You guys rock so much, it makes me so happy =P I hope you keep liking. Sorry for the pause in updates but I had a bit of Writer's Block. I am BACK now and… here comes **_**BATMAN! **

_**I've been sick on and off recently, I hope none of you catch **_Squigglitisifarium_** from me XD lol I got it from someone else~ They know who they are ^-^**__** Enjoy~)**_

Batman drove away from the Mountain slowly at first, it was still only mid-day and he hated the feeling of being out in the open, but he didn't start to head home. He knew Clark would probably be calling him anytime now so, instead, he started to head towards the Hall of Justice.

Sure enough, about ten minutes later, the phone in his car rang.

"_Caller: Clark Kent,"_ the computer announced, pausing the ringing sound when it did so you could hear its voice.

"Accepted," Batman said in quick reply and the computer let the call go through.

"Hello, Batman speaking," Bruce answered as he continued to drive.

"Bruce, it's Clark," he started and Bruce rolled his eyes, biting back a sarcastic comment on the latest thing called _"Caller ID"._ "I've gathered the entire League. We're having the meeting in about twenty minutes… Should I send you up now or…?"

"I'm almost to the Hall of Justice, besides with my identity out like it is now, I really need a good place to keep my car," Bruce told him. "I'll be there in five minutes, and then you can send me up."

"Alright, see you then, Clark out," Superman finished and, with that, he hung up.

Batman sped up a bit and, as he'd said, arrived at the Hall of Justice in a little under five minutes.

After making sure no one was watching him or following him, Bruce pulled the vehicle around back and entered a pass code into a remote in the car. Then, a door opened in the ground, revealing a ramp that Bruce drove down. It closed over his head once he was in and he went and parked his Batmobile.

Then, he headed over to the place where the elevator was and got out his comm. unit.

"Superman, I'm in the garage, send the beam," Batman said.

"Alright, beam coming," Superman replied, and in the next second a familiar green light surround Bruce and he was teleported to the Watchtower.

Batman's feet landed soundlessly on the metal floor. He almost glided as he walked, making his way to the Meeting Room. He didn't make a single sound as he went, either (as per usual).

Once he got there and went inside, his eyes scanned over the room and he took in who was there and who was absent. Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Aquaman, Martian Man Hunter, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Green Arrow were there and absent was… well too many to list.

Both Flash and Superman looked up when the Dark Knight entered and they instantly came over to him.

"Bruce –" Flash started to say, but once glare from him cut Barry off.

"I still _don't_ need you calling me that up here, and I certainly don't want any pity from ANYONE," he snapped harshly.

Flash just nodded, not saying anything else (but who would whenever being given the Batglare?).

"So when are we starting this meeting?" Batman asked Superman, turning to look at him.

"As soon as Black Canary, Zatanna, Atom, and Captain Marvel get here," Superman told him. Batman gave him a curt nod before heading away. He started messing with his wrist computer just as Green Arrow came over, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Instead of the apology Bruce had expected, Oliver started off with a practically casual, "How's it going?"

Bruce glanced at him once over his shoulder and then looked back at his small screen before replying.

"As well as it can be, I guess," he said in a lower tone. He and Oliver sort of had a different relationship than he had with Superman or Flash. While they were his friends, it was Oliver he was closer with outside of the mask. They both had a lot in common in their other aliases, two rich young men, owners of large companies with adopted wards… They understood each other better than the others could.

Oliver nodded to himself and then glanced at the screen Bruce had up. "Watcha doing?"

"I'm checking up on the Manor, if you must know… I feel like someone is going to attack there at any given moment…" Bruce explained to him as he browsed through the various camera feeds from the camera around the Manor. He muttered under his breath, then, "I can't even feel at ease in my own house any more…."

Oliver squeezed his shoulder in a sympathetic gesture and Bruce glanced back at him again and nodded his thanks. Then, he turned off the computer and turned to face the door just as the last few expected people trickled into the room.

"Okay everyone, take your seat," Superman announced and everyone silently did so minus Superman and Batman.

"We need to include the kids in this too," he told Superman sternly. He sighed but nodded before pulling up the screen and calling the Cave.

The team was looking at them whenever they answered, all silently waiting for their instructions.

Batman spoke first, "Alright, as two of you very well know already, the Justice League has called an emergency meeting to discuss this… situation, and you're now involved, so listen up and only speak when spoken too."

The team nodded and Batman returned the curt gesture before he sat down at his normal seat around the large table.

"You all know why you're here," Superman started then. "If you don't, then I'll recap. Last night, Batman and Robin's identities were uncovered by one Harvey Bullock. He then proceeded to expose them to both the printed press and the live news." Most of the people glanced sorrowfully at the Dark Knight and, while he felt their gaze he didn't make any movement to acknowledge them. "Here is the footage that was shot this morning around six-thirty…"

Superman pulled up the clip and both the League and Young Justice watched in silent anger and sorrow as Bullock spoke. All of them were a bit happy, though, when the Commissioner showed up and fired him. It was a small justice for what he did, but it was still a start.

"Now, while this is a terrible thing, there is nothing we can do to change it, sadly," Superman started again once the video had ended. "We must adjust… Bruce will need to be more careful, we all must. This could lead to the entire League's uncovering if we're not careful, so, while this sort of upsets me, we can't be associating much with Bruce as our aliases, but as this side of us we can."

"Now wait," Batman interrupted, "Bruce Wayne is still the owner of a huge business and is still the richest man in Gotham, whether known as Batman or not, most people are still going to have me going to the big formal events, which means I will end up seeing people like you –" he gestured to Green Arrow "– still because you're also rich, and also people like you –" he looked pointedly at Superman "– because you are a reporter. We can't be changing my life completely just because of this, I won't have it."

"He's right," Green Arrow piped up. "I wouldn't want to change my life completely if something like this happened to me. Would any of you like to have to completely drop us as civvies at any point in your life?"

The League murmured their "no's" and Green Arrow nodded, his lips pressed into a firm line.

"No, _exactly_, you'd be left with very few friends at that point and, no matter how much we want to deny it, it's true. We all only have a few friends that we know would still like us after discovering our identities when we could have so many more if we stuck together still. We're a team, we help each other through stuff like this, no matter what," he finished.

Bruce's lips twitched in a slight smile as the others voiced their agreements. These people truly were the huge extended family he never had, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, he cared for them all. His expression instantly hardened again, though, as he now took his turn to speak.

"While this means a lot to me, if people start to try and figure out your OWN identities because of any association with me, I insist that you drop communication with me and concern yourselves only with helping yourselves. It wouldn't offend me at all, this is a major thing. If they start to figure out more of our real personalities, it would be a disaster," he told them all sternly, not leaving any room for argument.

"Agreed, it seems fair enough," Superman said, speaking for everyone. They all nodded and Superman continued.

"Okay, so now onto a different matter here. Bruce," he turned to look at the Dark Knight, "are you and Dick still going to go out and patrol at night or what…?"

Bruce pursed his lips. He'd thought about this once or twice already since this whole thing had unfolded, but he'd never really decided for sure.

"We almost have to," he said. "If the police were left to watch Gotham on their own, no offense to them but the Joker or some other psycho like him would be running the place in no time and I cannot let that happen."

Superman nodded. "Understood, but if you think it's too dangerous to –" he began to say but a rather harsh Batglare cut him off mid thought.

Bruce stood up, palms pressed down flat on the table as he continued to glare at Clark. "Look, just because all of this has happened, doesn't change a thing about me," he growled. "I'm not suddenly weaker or anything just because people know. I'm. Still. Me." He enunciated each word very precisely to put effect on what he was trying to get across.

After he finished that sentence though, his anger finally broke through at this whole thing. Poor Justice League, some of them had just given him the wrong look so now he was lashing out at them... "What don't you guys understand about that? You're treating this whole situation as if Bullock had announced that I'd gotten cancer and I was going to slowly get weaker and die sometime soon, not as if he'd announced that he discovered- what he did! When you come into this job, you know the risks of it, the risks of your family getting hurt, you getting hurt, or someone finding out and while you pray for it not to happen and _expect_ it not to, shit happens sometimes! When it does, you have to adjust and, as Green Arrow so aptly put it earlier, try and live around it, move on but not fully ignore it!

"Of course, even with this in mind I have to admit something." Bruce leaned forward, hands on the table again with his facial expression utterly serious. He'd all but forgotten his son was watching at this point as he spoke his next confession/shpeel.

"I. Am. _Scared_… I'm scared as heck about this whole thing and how I know it WILL change my life, along with other people's, no matter how much I don't want it to. I can't _show_ my fear though, for more reason than one. First off, I am the Dark Knight, people expect me to be this stoic, emotionless statue which is far from the truth sometimes, and secondly if I start to show my fear over this, the people I am closest too will panic also and I can't allow that to happen. Their needs come before my own and I will protect them at _all costs_.

"With this in mind, this new situation makes it even harder for me to do that. All of the people who have ever hated either Batman or Bruce Wayne has now doubled and focused on the same person, and it's not the people who hated Bruce that I fear as much as the ones who were out to get Batman. All of those crazed, murdering psychos now know where I live, where I work, and even where my SON goes to school at! No amount of guards can protect him from the Joker and that SCARES me! He and I can't really be safe anywhere, even with our training, they can catch us off guard…

"I can't even get a good night's sleep anymore, not if anyone else in my house wants one. I have to stick through it for them. I will never let those people down who are counting on me, even if it means doing something I'm terrified to do, face something I know I can't beat, or become something I know I can't be, I'll do it because I have more than just myself to think about with every move I make.

"Now that THAT is all out there, I feel this meeting is over. There is nothing else to talk about unless you want to go into the whole 'The-Entire-League-could-be-exposed-because-of-this' thing again. Otherwise, I have more important things to be doing now, things to adjust and change so if you'll excuse me."

And with that, the Dark Knight strode purposefully out of the room, cape gliding behind him, leaving a surprised team and an open mouthed son behind him…

_**(A/N: I'm sooo sorry for the pause in updates~ I hope you guys liked it, I had to work hard around a Writer's Block for this, but your reviews kept me going! Now, Review, it will motivate me more for the next one ^-^~~~~)**_


	7. No Going Back Little Bird

_**(A/N: I am so happy with the response from chapter 6! I'm glad you guys liked it and Batman's shpeel~ I worked hard to word it right to a way that would sound like something he'd say~ Now, let's see how this affects their regular lives the next day… Enjoy~)**_

Robin and the others were watching the meeting go by silently as instructed, always holding their tongues no matter how much they sometimes wanted to speak up.

That's when Batman started his little rant. Robin only watched in shock, mouth open in his sudden surprise as his father went on.

The words hit home though, and with each sentence Robin slowly realized just how deep they were in. He couldn't even see the way out at this point of the pit Bullock had so graciously started for them, the news had continued it, and the entire population of Arkham Asylum had taken away their light…

Dick watch as Bruce stormed out of the Watchtower. Once his mentor and caretaker was out of sight, Dick closed his mouth and rose without a word.

"I should be ready to go," he whispered very softly, "he'll be here soon…"

The team also went along and followed him. Just as Robin headed towards the kitchen to get a quick drink, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and met the grey eyes looking at him with the various other eyes behind it.

"We are here for you Robin, remember that," Kaldur told him firmly, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "Don't be afraid to call on us, either."

Young Justice all nodded in agreement with their mentor including Roy, and Robin smiled.

"Thanks again," Robin said to them, meeting each of their stares before ducking out of Kaldur's grip and heading towards the door. He'd easily picked up the sound of the Batmobile's motor.

Just then, as Robin knew he would, the computer announced Batman's arrival.

The Dark Knight strode in and noticed Robin, whom he nodded at. Robin nodded back and went around his mentor and outside. Then, Batman gave each person in the room a quick look over, a genuine look came to his face, a slight smile on his lips (as much as can be expected from him).

"Thank you for being there for him," he said simply before he followed his partners move and went out of the Mountain.

**The Next Day**

Dick packed his bag for school at around three that morning. He was too nerve racked to sleep. He'd been up all night thinking. Every sound made him react, every shadow made him jump… his whole body was on edge and he wasn't looking forward to returning to Gotham Academy. Those stuck up people who _liked_ him were going to be the first one giving him side glances and all of those people who were his _friends_ would be the first to start whispering behind his back in the morning…

"Back stabbing, _stuck up_, goodie two-shoes…" Dick muttered under his breath, scowling as he fiercely zipped his bag shut.

He'd promised Bruce he would try one day and then they'd go from there… Even though he'd promise, didn't mean he'd like it. He'd _try_ to be nice, but he knew how it'd be…

Dick sighed, running an angry hand through his hair as he rose from his bed. He felt like he was being watched as he headed out of his room and down the hall. Of course, being raised by the Batman he always felt like this, but right now it was worse. He knew Gordon was sending cops here in the morning to help "guard" the place… but it wouldn't help, not at all.

Dick headed into the library and opened the door to the Batcave. He stalked down the steps rapidly, muttering under his breath as he did.

The second he reached the bottom, he chalked his hands before launching himself into the air.

It seemed like he was air-borne for minutes, the world was in slow motion and he felt he would never touch the ground or his goal, he even started to fall a bit, but the second his hands latched onto the bar and Dick instantly felt at home. He closed his eyes, taking out all of his frustration in his fluid movements as he swung and flipped between the bars with practiced ease. He somersaulted, tucking in his legs, hugging them to his chest as he flipped in the air. At the last second, his arms and legs shot back out and he latched onto the next bar. Then, he flipped his legs up and landed on top of it in a balanced squatting position which is where he stayed for a while as he caught his breath as the sweat dripped off of his hair and landed with a muted _"plop"_ onto the rock floor.

Finally, Dick stood and stepped off, landing soundlessly on the ground on the balls of his feet and heading over to the punching bags near-by. He went into a sparring session with the oval opponent.

"_High punch, round house, knife hand, sidekick, duck,"_ flew through Dick's head as he moved fluently through the attacks.

Just then, Dick heard a soft sound high up to his right. He flipped back, twisting in air so he could see who was coming, instinctively getting into a sparring stance. He only relaxed after he realized who it was.

"I heard you moving down here…" Bruce told him as he came down the stairs, hands in the pockets of the sweatpants he was wearing. "Not able to sleep?" he guessed, looking up at his son.

Dick nodded, blinking and wiping his forehead when sweat dripped down his nose again. Both stood there for a while, Bruce at the bottom of the stairs and Dick on the mats when Dick suddenly sunk down onto the ground, burying his head in his knees. Bruce went over to his son and squatted down next to him.

"Sunt speriat tata," Dick suddenly breathed, looking up to meet his father's concerned look. Bruce instantly sat down and pulled his son closer, despite the fact that he was hot and sweaty. He brushed his hand through his son's hair.

"Pasăre mică Sst, totul va fi bine," Bruce whispered soothingly into Dick's ear as he continued to stroke his hair.

Dick tilted his head back to look up at Bruce. "What are we going to do?" he asked quietly, the fear clear in his bright blue eyes.

"We're going to try and live through it… We'll tough it out, we've been in tight spots before," Bruce told him. He sighed before continuing, "If it gets too rough though, you know we have people to back us up…"

Dick nodded, looking back down. "Do I _really _have to go to school tomorrow?" he unexpectedly whined.

Bruce actually chuckled and stood up. "Yes, you promised me one day," he said to his son. Then, his expression turned utterly serious and father-like, the "Daddy Bats" look as Wally had so aptly named it. "If it gets to be too hard, though, or something happens you call me and defend yourself, no holding back. If people have to know this about us that means you can act like both out in public if necessary."

Dick nodded. "Alright," he said, also standing but using a different method. He rolled back on his back and whipped his legs up and forward, efficiently sending his body up and flying, making him land in a standing position. He snickered as Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Okay Mr. Show-off Acrobat, go hit the showers," he said, hitting Robin in the back. Robin let out his signature laugh before back flipping up the stairs and out of the cave.

Bruce shook his head in disbelief. His son could be so bipolar sometimes…

…. …. …. …. ….

Alfred drove Dick to school at the usual time of 7:20 after he'd eaten breakfast. He sat quietly in the backseat as Bon Jovi "Runaway" played softly in the background. He was dreading this day more than he should be… Of course, the cop car following them didn't help his feeling much at all. It was curtsey of Gordon and they'd be near-by all day, as if the words and side glances wouldn't be bad enough WITHOUT them, now there'd be some snickers too.

Perfect.

Alfred stopped in front of Gotham Academy and Dick took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before shuffling over to the right door.

Alfred's hand reached back and placed a hand on Dick's shoulder. Dick glanced back at the butler.

"Good luck Master Dick," he told the boy.

"Thanks Alfred," Dick replied before stepping lightly out of the car.

It seemed like everyone's conversations stopped whenever Dick got out of the Porsche. He kept his eyes averted from the crowd by the doors and headed quietly over to a shade tree, stopping under it and leaning against the trunk there.

Dick listened as a car door stopped a bit behind him. He noticed the two police men standing nearby out of the corner of his vision and he rolled his eyes. Then, he finally looked at the group of his peers… He scanned the crowd, taking in each cluster of teens. A little over half of them kept glancing at him as they whispered to each other.

They were already talking about him… _great_.

Just then, during his scanning, Dick spotted someone in the crowd that actually made him feel a little better about the outcome of the day.

A blonde head had noticed him and was now weaving through the crowd to get to him. Once she was out she came over to where he was standing.

"Hey Dick," Artemis greeted in her usual tone, but a touch of friendliness and familiarity was in her eyes as she spoke.

Dick smiled. "Hey Artemis," he replied. It was sort of nice that his team knew his identity, now he and Artemis could be friends at school.

Of course, no one knew Artemis was Dick's teammate, so it was just another act to keep up. They couldn't just leap into being friends because Artemis and Dick weren't _really_ friends, not close ones at least… It was all just another charade to keep up.

"So, you're not freaked out that I'm Robin?" he asked her curiously, tilting his head to the side a bit.

Artemis laughed, effectively drawing the attention of the crowd. She even went on to speak loud enough that the eavesdroppers could hear her.

"Nah," she scoffed, "I think it's _cool_ that you're a superhero!"

A couple of kids nodded and murmured in agreement at that. It seemed to break the tense ice around Dick a little… but then one kid spoke up and it made another layer creep back on.

"I think it's all a lie!" a rich kid named Josh spoke up rather loudly. The crowd split to reveal him and his friends. His Dad owned a big restaurant chain in Gotham and Metropolis, along with several other cities, which is why he was here. He was very rude and full of himself though so Dick didn't really ever associate with him.

Dick took a step forward, coming out of the shade as Josh continued.

"I mean, why would a _weakling _like _you_ be THE Robin?" he scoffed, only ruder than Artemis's playful one had been.

"I don't know," a random kid piped in. "Have you seen him in the _gym_? He's got some moves."

"Yeah, remember he was raised in a circus," another kid added.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I still don't think it's true. It could all be just another publicity stunt to give the GREAT and powerful Bruce Wayne some media attention."

Dick clenched his fists. He hated it when people insulted his father. Artemis placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

The cops weren't doing anything. They just watched. Dick could care less, though; he'd only want them to help if someone who was an _actual_ threat appeared. Not that they'd do all that much good, but it'd bring him some comfort if they helped in _that_ sort of situation.

Josh's words made him think though, what if enough people didn't believe he was Robin? Could this whole thing blow over and there cover would be safe again?

Bullock would always know, and so would the Commissioner… and while he trusted Gordon, Bullock was another matter entirely.

"I bet he couldn't even through a punch if his life depended on it," Josh continued with a sneer.

Before Dick could even think about what he was saying, words poured out of his mouth. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is Fairbanks? I'd like to see YOU throw a punch."

"_Great, no NOT exposing myself _now_ without a bloody nose,"_ Dick scolded himself mentally.

Josh sneered at him and pushed up his sleeves. "Bring it on Grayson!" he challenged right back.

Dick just put his fists up, not going full out just yet.

The cops still weren't doing anything. They were all but useless it seemed. I guess they figured they weren't needed for a small fight, especially if they truly believed he WAS Robin.

Josh's muscles tensed and Dick saw his charge before it happened, so when it did he was ready. He flipped over his opponent and landed on his feet. He'd held back a kick to Josh's spine, knowing it would have sent him flying and he didn't really _want_ to attack the kid, no matter how annoying he was.

Dick stood there, acting as if what he did was nothing big (which it wasn't to him), but the crowd around him seemed to beg to differ. They were all murmuring in shock… and some in fear, which made Dick wince mentally. Then he noticed Artemis at the very front of the crowd near him, ready to step in if needed. That's when he realized he didn't really care what those other kids thought; he only needed his true friends, his team.

Of course, that didn't mean he wanted them to fear him. Robin wasn't someone to fear, he was a hero, a protector with Batman not a criminal. Just because he had moves didn't mean he'd use them for bad, good guys needed to be able to defend themselves, too.

Josh spun around, his eyes filled with shock, but he quickly composed himself. "You got lucky," he growled before coming at him again, fist pulled back.

Dick caught his fist in midair and Josh's shocked expression came back.

"I don't want to hurt you Josh," he said firmly, "but I will if I have to."

Josh scowled and pulled his arm back. He appeared defeated as he turned his back and walked away. Dick was about to turn around and walk away, but he knew better to fully take his eyes off of his enemy.

Lucky him he did know this, being trained by the best and all, so he saw Josh suddenly spun back around and charged at him.

Dick's instincts kicked in and he flew up in the air, legs spinning around, one pushing Josh's second punch out of the way and the other kicking Josh square in the jaw, sending him flying to the side.

Dick landed on the ground with a stern look on his face as he watched Josh slowly sit up, a hand on his bleeding mouth in utter surprise and realization.

The next four words he said guaranteed that there would be no going back for Dick. His life was stuck as it was and there was nothing he could do about it…

"You really _are_ Robin."

_**(A/N: YEAH! This chapter came very easily, I wrote like HALF of it in one day! I hope you guys liked it, all of your reviews meant a lot to me! I hope I'm keeping you guessing~ Please feel free to share those guesses, they help me with the thinking process to consider how you thought that up and it even motivates me! ^-^ I'll try to get another chapter up soon~ Review!)**_


	8. The Hour and 25 Minute Trip

_**(A/N: So some of you have said stuff about how Bruce's co-workers would react and I refer you back to chapter one~ I'm sorry but the first day after people find out he doesn't return to work… xD He will tomorrow though, maybe~ It depends on what I decided to happen next! As always, feel free to throughout what you think will happen!**_

_**Enjoy~)**_

_***Chapter 1 for before this***_

Bruce's day had been mostly quiet (minus the angry thought towards Bullock) throughout the day, until lunch time hit. That's when he got the first text.

It read:

"Don't b mad but I got in a fight bfor sxool."

Bruce, being the overprotective parent he was, wasn't mad but worried. He instantly replied to his son's message.

"With who and what did the cops do about it?"

Dick sent a message back in under a minute, despite its length.

"The fuzz did nothing but stand there." Bruce chuckled at his son's wording even though he was not pleased by this answer. "The guy was Josh Fairbanks, you know him. His dad is Brock Fairbanks. Anyhoo, it wasn't big but… it was sorta my fault. He was saying he didn't believe I was Robin and other people said I was, but not evryone believed it! We had a way out and I blew it! It's just- he started insulting u and I lost my cool and opened my big mouth. The next thing I no he's chargin me and I just reacted…"

"Dick it's not your fault. We had no chance in the first place. I mean maybe we could have, but too many people saw the truth in what Bullock revealed…" Bruce sent to his son, cursing the entire situation for making his son blame himself like he was. He quickly typed up another response and sent it, too.

"Did either of you get hurt? Did you get in trouble?"

"Josh got in trouble since he started it. I claimed self-defense* so I was allowed to just have a warning," Dick told him. "… I nailed Josh in the jaw, though, with my foot… I tried not to fight him; I told him I didn't want to hurt him. I'd avoided the first charge by flipping over him and then I'd blocked his next punch by catching his fist. He'd walked away and suddenly charged when my back was half-turned. I saw him and my training kicked in, I kicked his fist away and hit his jaw… I'm sorry it was very reflexive."

Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was starting to get a migraine from his stress. He didn't type a reply for the longest time, just thinking over the situation, but finally he picked up his phone (which he'd set on his desk) and wrote his response.

"How have the other kids been treating you?"

Unlike him, Dick still replied steadily. It shocked Bruce just how fast his son could type. He was really on that phone too much…

"Babs and Artemis still treat me the same, but with the others… it just depends on the kid. Most of my 'friends' are still nice to me. A lot of people like me because I'm a hero, which has made my popularity spike a bit, but some act like Josh and think it's overrated… I think a few are even afraid of me…."

Bruce growled to himself. Stupid high school food chain and those kids and their judgmental attitudes, how they were acting was obviously bothering Dick and, thence forth, it bother Bruce a bit too…

It seemed like every second, Bruce could think of another reason to hate Bullock for all he'd done to screw up his life. He'd managed to hit right in the center of his world, it seemed, and his words spread like poison, slowly affecting the rest of his routine and family members and friends…

"Dick, if you have any more problems you tell me, alright?" he sent his son.

The response was almost instant.

"I love you Taticul."

"I love you too Dick, now eat your lunch."

With that, their conversation ended and Bruce went back to his work.

…. …. …. …. ….

Bruce didn't get anymore texts after that, so he decided to assume no news was good news. He continued his work until two o'clock when Alfred came into the room.

"Master Bruce, I just thought I'd remind you, in case you forgot, of Oliver Queen's charity banquet in Star City tonight, which you were invited to," the butler told the billionaire. Bruce groaned, face palming himself.

"I completely forgot about that," he replied, rising from his chair and beginning to put his work away. "What time is it at?"

"Four o'clock sir," Alfred told him, watching him as he cleaned up the papers and folders and putting them in various piles on the desk top.

Bruce nodded and headed out of the office and towards his room with Alfred right behind him.

"Hm…" Bruce murmured to himself, beginning to think aloud as he looked through his closet for a suit, "it takes about an hour and twenty five minutes to fly there in perfect conditions… Just in case we have any problems, though, we should leave at 2:25 which is in…" he checked his watch, "18 minutes."

Bruce cursed under his breath that really wasn't much time to prepare, it left him with hardly enough time to breath. Bruce paused in his search and turned to face Alfred.

"Oliver invited Dick too, if I remember correctly, so would you please go pick him out an outfit and the retrieve him from school? I'll go on ahead to the airport so meet me there afterwards, I'll be in the big jet," he told the butler, who nodded at him.

"Alright sir, I'll see you again in a few then," he told him and then turned and left the room.

Bruce faced his closet again once Alfred was gone and plucked out one of his favorite black suits he'd gotten from Italy during a conference trip there. He quickly changed into it and then proceeded to grab his phone and wallet, which he placed in his pockets, and also his utility belt which was put on under his shirt.

After that, Bruce headed to the garage and slipped into his 2011 black Jaguar. He only paused once to stroke the leather admiringly before starting it up and slipping out all but soundlessly to the drive.

He paused in front of the house and rolled down his window to talk to the officer there whom was in charge.

"I will be out of town for the rest of the evening, but my butler would be here, so please leave a few of your men if you do feel like leaving," he told the man firmly. The officer nodded.

"Of course," he said and Bruce nodded back before facing forward, rolling up the window, and heading down the driveway and out the golden gates.

Bruce kept the top clasped and the tinted windows up as he drove, but he still felt like everyone was staring at him. Sure, usually people's heads turned when Bruce Wayne was out, heck most heads turned when a car like his was anywhere, no matter the person driving, but he felt as though this was different. Dick's voice in the back of his head teased him, calling him a paranoid old man and he shook his head, smiling a bit, but it still didn't shake the feeling from him.

Bruce pulled a pair of shades out from his consul and slipped them on his eyes before speeding up slightly, stupid paranoia.

Bruce pulled out his phone and he continued along, calling up the airport. When someone finally answered, he told them to get his plane ready.

"Yes Mr. Wayne, sir," the person told him, acting as he usually would whenever the billionaire called (which secretly made Bruce feel a little better). "You'll be here soon, I assume?"

"Yes, just have it out and ready for me to board in its usual spot," he told the boy.

"Alright sir, it'll be there," the boy replied and Bruce nodded to himself.

"Thank you," he said before hanging up and focusing on his driving.

He got to the airport only a few minutes after that. He pulled into and parked in his usual, reserved, space. He got out and locked it with the push of a button on the door handle before heading inside the building and easily making his way toward the place where his plane was presumed to be waiting at.

Sure enough, it was out with the steps down when Bruce got there.

Bruce headed over to the steps but stopped at the bottom. He turned around, hands in pockets, to face the building as he waited for his adopted father and son to arrive.

About five minutes later, Bruce stopped waiting. He spotted the white haired and raven haired men as they stepped out of the building and headed towards him. He smiled to himself whenever they stopped in front of him.

Bruce gestured for Dick to go on up the stairs and he did. Then, Bruce looked at Alfred.

"Hopefully we'll be back before eleven, but if the plans change I'll call you," he told the British man. "If anything happens, call us, alright?"

"Of course sir," Alfred replied, nodding a bit. "Enjoy yourselves."

Bruce chuckled. "At Oliver's party? Never," he teased before heading up the stairs, shutting the door behind him.

Bruce turned to face the cabin once inside. "Pilot, we're ready," he told the man there, who nodded at him. Then he headed back to sit across from his son in the entertainment room-like seating area.

Bruce buckled up as the plane slowly began to roll down the runway.

"Thanks for pulling me out of school early," Dick said with a smile. He was happy, unlike his father suddenly seemed to be.

Bruce nodded to his son but didn't make eye contact. He had his elbow rested on the window ledge next to him as he watched the plane slowly rise off of the ground.

Neither spoke as they broke through some clouds, but finally Dick interrupted the silence.

"You're worried about how people are going to be acting at the party, aren't you?" he asked, but it was more of a knowing statement than a question.

Bruce sighed and turned his head to look at his son, meeting his gaze.

"Yes," he admitted, his lips pressed into a firm line. Dick was one of two people (Alfred being the other) that he easily admitted thing to. Other people never got him to admit things like that without a fight, something that Dick knew very well and it pleased him.

Dick waited as Bruce thought over the words he wanted to say, but after a bit he spoke.

"I'm mostly worried about what might happen with the criminals now that people know. What if they attack me openly while we're there, knowing I'll be attending? Then, what about Oliver? What about his cover whenever Green Arrow would suddenly show up to help? Sure, it's Star City but there'd be no way he'd get there that fast and then people will start to question who he is too and –" he started to fret, many more improbable scenarios of what could happen while they were there (all turning out for the worst), but Dick cut him off.

"Bruce, you are over thinking all of this again," Dick told him firmly, leaning forward and placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Even if something does happen, which it probably won't, I highly doubt it will end in utter chaos. Besides, in my opinion it would be rather hard to tie any of the League's aliases to their hero IDs through their knowing you. You know plenty of other people who still are your friends that AREN'T heroes! Like Luscious, _Alfred_, Lois… The only way they might even think about it a little bit is if Batman was talking to normal people or the heroes to you and even then it's not much to go by."

Bruce sighed again, nodding. "You're right," he said and Dick smiled a bit, leaning back in his seat. "I'm over reacting… I'm just worried about them, and you. You know how paranoid I am."

Dick chuckled. "That I do," he replied, still smiling widely.

After that, the plane finally leveled off and Dick went over to play on the Xbox they had in there while Bruce got on his laptop. Dick hooked up his headphones, putting in "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and hooking up wirelessly to Wally's (who, of course, was on). They began to play and Bruce occasionally watched, but he mostly worked on his computer.

The hour and a half (ish) flew by rather fast and soon Dick had to put the electronics away and sit back down as the plane began its descent into Star City Airport.

Once the plane had fully stopped in its unloading area, Dick and Bruce got up and headed off of the plane. Earlier, whilst still in the air, Bruce had called a limo for them so it was waiting for them when they got out.

The father and son headed over to the waiting open door and nodded to the driver (whom was holding the door open for them) before ducking inside the nice Camaro limo. The driver shut the door behind them before heading around front and starting up the engine.

Dick looked around their seating area with eager eyes as they drove along. The look on his face was of pure joy and wonder; he loved cars just as much as Bruce so being in a Camaro limo excited him _just_ a bit.

"This is so sweet!" Dick finally said as he opened the sunlight again only to close it. Bruce watched, smiling, as the young boy messed around with the many gadgets they had at their disposal, including a TV, radio, stereo controls, and even a seat warmer and massager.

"Wh-_y_ don't w-E have a ca-rr like this?" Dick asked as he got his back massaged, messing up his speech a bit. Bruce chuckled.

"Can you not just be satisfied with the other 20 or so nice cars and a few motorcycles we have?" Bruce asked the boy teasingly. "You wouldn't want to sound like a spoiled rich kid asking that, now would you?"

Dick stuck his tongue out at him before shrugging his shoulders. "I gu-ESS you-or riight," he answered before relaxing back into the seat more, eyes closed. "Yo-oo have to ag-REE it-s pretty swe-ET though."

Bruce sighed. "Sure Dick, if you say so," he replied, still grinning playful and Dick opened his eyes again to stick his tongue out a second time, leaning away from the back of the seat so he could speak clearly.

"You're no fun," he told Bruce before lying back again, eyes shut.

The rest of the ride was quiet as they headed through Star City. Lots of people looked as the Camaro limo drove on and Bruce kept telling himself it was just the car, no one could know it was he inside, unlike in Gotham where his cars were known, but that didn't stop him from being his normal paranoid self with his shades on even though the windows were tinted.

Just then Queen Industries came into view, which is where the banquet was being held. People and reporters alike were already gather near the building, though they were kept away from the door, which was roped off and had a police officer by it, keeping the crowds at bay.

The limo pulled to a stop in front of the building and Dick looked up, turning off the massager as the driver got out, heading towards their door.

"You ready to finally face them?" Dick asked his dad as he looked hesitantly out the window.

Bruce glanced at him son, his face a bit grim, but the look on Dick's face made him change his expression from grim to determined. He nodded just as the doors opened. Reporters were already calling his name.

Bruce took in a deep breath and stepped into the flashing lights.

_**(A/N: O_o hope that ending wasn't too dramatic for you, I just love ending chapters like that ^-^. LOL sorry for the long break in updates and to **_Reina Grayson_**, the thing you assumed, like, chapter 5 or so MAY or MAY NOT be happening in the next chapter =P**_

_***** Wondering what that random * meant during this chapter? WELL, since you wondered, I'll tell you! I wanted to give credit where credit was due and I was inspired to write that line because of **_Sincerely Seven_**'s review for chapter 7! Thanks for that!**_

_**OH and to **_Protector Korii _**(who has two AMAZING stories posted! You must read if you have not already!) There's a little bit I was inspired to write about you about them getting out of the situation~~ ^-^**_

_**SEE? Your reviews DO help me!**_

_**ANYWAYS, now to end this HUGO Author's Note with one word: Review!) **_


	9. What the Press Wants

_**(A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, you guys are **__**spoiling**__** me! =) Not that I mind at ALL~~~~ ALL OF THEM mean a lot to me and every single one of them helps! NOW I love all of your guesses but some of you are becoming psychic, I feel like I'm predictable which WOULDN'T be a good thing… **_

_**Am I predictable? xD**_

_**ANYHOO Enjoy the latest chapter~ It's my favorite so far *although I like seven a lot too*)**_

"Mr. Wayne! What was your reaction to the news?"

"Mr. Wayne! Is what Bullock said true?"

"Why did you not show up for work today, Bruce?"

"Mr. Wayne!"

"Bruce!"

"_Mr. Wayne_!"

"_Bruce_!"

The questions had started streaming out of the reporters' mouths before Bruce had even fully gotten out of the car, and when he WAS out they only intensified. He could barely tell one from another, they all were just a jumbled up mess of words with his name mixed in constantly. Lights were on him constantly, whether flashing or not, he was getting photographed and videotaped at the same time.

It was starting to give him a nice, hard migraine.

"Mr. Wayne, if you really are who Bullock has claimed that you are what do you plan on doing from now on? Will you still be Batman? How will this interfere with Batman's involvement in the Justice League?"

The question got right to the point, even repeating what Clark had said a bit yesterday. Everyone wanted to know the answer to it and the crowd grew quiet. Bruce froze whenever he heard the question spoken. He only knew one person who would ask questions like that, in the manner, getting down to the point from the start.

The reporters parted as Bruce turned so he could confirm his suspicions on who was talking to him. Dick paused beside Bruce, finally out of the limo, as he stared in shock.

"Well Bruce, are you going to answer those questions _before _or _after_ you catch some flies?" Lois Lane asked smugly as Bruce composed himself.

"Pass," he said simply, watching her as she smirked at him with one hand on her hip, Jimmy behind her with his camera.

Lois took a few steps closer and Bruce didn't move until she was about two feet away from him.

"So are you denying or confirming that you are the Dark Knight?" she persisted, raising one eyebrow.

"_Pass,"_ Bruce repeated a bit more firmly this time. That was one thing he'd never admit out loud, no matter how much evidence or information people knew. He composed himself more after that, even turning and starting towards the door.

Lois, stubborn as she was, wouldn't let him get off so easily though. She quickly moved so she was blocking his way, planting her feet firmly on the ground and meet his gaze square on.

"Was Bullock lying?" she questioned him.

"Yes," Bruce answered instantly, even though it was a lie. Again, he would never admit the truth, it just felt wrong.

"Then the photo was a fake?" Lois tried to confirm, but she sounded suspicious of him, one hand on her hip again.

This time, Bruce hesitated in answering, which was unwise of him because Lois noted it. Finally, he just growled, "Pass," before pushing gently around her and heading past the guard into the building.

Lois tried to follow him again, but the guard there stepped in her path sternly, stopping her. "No press allowed," he told her gruffly and she scowled, leaning around him to peer inside as Dick followed his father, making the door open.

"You can't hide from the press Bruce!" she called through her opening. Then, the doors closed with a _whoosh_ and she was blocked out.

Those seven words echoed in the playboy's head as he absently walked over to a food table so he was out of the seeing range of the front door. He numbly picked up a grape and ate it as his thoughts swirled.

Suddenly, Bruce heard the soft sound of feet and a hand was on his shoulder. He jumped a bit, spinning around to face the person who'd made contact with him.

A bellowing laugh came from the blonde who was now in front of him. "Did I really make _YOU_ _jump_?" he laughed and Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Grow up Queen," he growled as he turned back to the food table, deciding to eat another grape.

Oliver sighed and put the hand back on Bruce's shoulder, making him turn and then placing his other hand on the remaining shoulder. He looked the man straight in the eyes as he spoke.

"Don't let the reporters get to you, especially Lois because it's exactly what they want," he told his friend firmly. He knew a bit what Bruce was going for. Once, Oliver Queen was tried for murder (which he obviously didn't commit, but the evidence had been planted otherwise, to frame him) so he understood Bruce's sudden reporter problem. Sure, he had reporters talk to him before, but nothing like this.

Bruce sighed and nodded. "You're right, but –"

"Of course I am!" Oliver all but shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. He then dusted his shoulders off. "It's about time you noticed…" he said with a satisfied, yet teasing, tone.

Bruce rolled his eyes again. "Don't get used to that, Queen. You won't be hearing me say that very often."

Oliver chuckled. "I would be shocked if I did," he teased. Then, his expression changed as he slung his arm around Bruce's shoulders. "So…" he started, "what do you want to do? We have the _whole _night my friend."

Bruce opened his mouth, about to say a response, when he noticed something. He snapped his jaw shut and craned his neck, scanning the crowd in sudden concern.

"Wait, Oliver… have you seen Dick?"

…. …. …. …. ….

Dick sighed as he watched his father walk over to the food table, eating a grape after Lois's reporter attack. Sure, Dick loved Lois, she was cool and all, but she sometimes was a bit too good at her job…

Dick shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced around the room, heaving out another sigh. This was going to be pretty boring, as things like this usually were… Usually, he had Roy to help keep him entertained, but even though he and Oliver were on semi-speaking terms the red head rarely hung around his parties or Star City at all.

If he really wanted something to do, he could always go answer some of the questions the reporters wanted to know… He glanced behind him to look at the crowd there that was screaming at him like crazed fans.

Dick shuddered and looked away. No, he'd rather die than go out there. Those reporters were nasty creatures. He'd be eaten alive and everything he said would be twisted and turned to be used against him. _Yes_, they were paid savages.

Dick instantly decided after that that he didn't even want to be near them, so he began to shuffle through the crowd to get away while still trying to think of what to do. That's when he broke through on another side and noticed the elevator.

Dick smiled to himself, an idea of what to do coming to his mind. He headed over to the elevator and hit the call button. The doors opened instantly and he stepped inside, hitting the button for floor 40 (Oliver's favorite number) which was the floor where Oliver's office was.

The elevator ride was fairly short, since it was a straight shot, and soon the thing dinged and the doors _swooshed_ open. Dick stepped out lithely and began to walk softly down the halls. He knew this place almost as well as the Wayne buildings because he'd visited Roy so much when he was younger and this is where they'd went most of the times when he DID visit.

He walked along until he was in front of the giant room that was Oliver Queen's office. That's where he paused, looking in through the glass for a moment…

Just then Dick noticed_ someone_ out of the corner of his eye. He assumed it was a guard, but he still turned to check, taking a step back into the shadows as he did in case the person hadn't noticed him yet.

Dick looked at the person, expecting a uniform NOT a suit with fiery read hair on the head. He stepped out into the little light there was with a surprised look on his face.

"Roy?" he asked in shock and the red head smirked, stopping in front of the raven-haired boy. "What are you doing here?"

"The Team and I did promise to stick around sometimes whenever you were in your civvies," Roy said with the grin still on his face. Then, Roy sort of shrugged his shoulders. "_Plus_ I knew you'd be here and I had nothing better to do…"

Dick rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest. "Thanks Roy, I feel _loved_," Dick said with heavy sarcasm.

Roy laughed a laugh that reminded Dick a lot of Oliver. "You _should_! At least you came to my mind, heck, _you_ were the first person I'd thought of when I was bored!"

Dick rubbed his chin, acting as though he were deep in though. Finally, he tilted his head from side to side. "I _guess_ that counts…" he said, dragging out the "guess" when he spoke.

Roy laughed again and Dick grinned.

"So… how did you know that you would find me up here?" Dick asked gesturing around him as the two very slowly began to continue down the hall in the direction from which Roy came.

"Well, I didn't see you in the Lobby so I'd assumed this was where you'd be if you could get up here," Roy told him, "… _and_ I saw you get into the elevator."

Dick snickered. "You're quiet a Sherlock," he teased, slugging his friend (practically his brother) playfully in the shoulder. Then, his expression went quickly from playful to deep in thought, reminiscing. "Do you remember the time we, you, Wally and I, covered Oliver's entire office with packing bubbles?"

Roy muffled his laugh with his hand at the memory. "Yeah, I do. That was so funny! But my favorite prank we pulled would have to be when we covered his new Ferrari with multi colored duct tape," Roy said.

Dick beamed. "That was epic. I loved it! I still have some pictures of it, too… But, afterwards, we ended up getting the privilege of taking it all back OFF and cleaning the car about, oh, twenty times until every bit of sticky was off. THEN, even after all of that, Bruce had to pay for a new paint job since we'd all but ruined it…"

Roy stuck out his chest. "I think the car looked pretty god dam awesome with the duct tape coating. It was stylish and the windows weren't covered and you could open the doors and hood and trunk. Heck, it was just like a tape paint job! He should have kept it on but NO he just HAD to ground us instead!"

Dick scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, what an unstylish jerk!"

The two looked at each other for a little bit before busting out laughing. They controlled it after a minute or so, letting out a sigh as they did. Then, the two walked in a comfortable silence for a while. After a little bit, though, Dick broke it with a deep breath.

"We should probably go back now before either: a, a guard decides to kick us out, or b, Bruce has a _conniption_ because he can't find me… I'm surprised he hasn't called already," Dick told Roy, murmuring the last part to himself while he got out his phone, checking for any missed calls.

"Well, one reason he _may_ not have called is because I texted Oliver whenever I saw you, assuming he'd relay the message to Bruce," Roy told Dick, who nodded.

"Ah, you're probably right… but we should still head back. People might get suspicious if I walk in through the front doors but never really make an appearance," Dick explained and Roy sighed.

"As usual, the certified genius is right," he muttered under his breath teasingly and Dick laughed heartily.

"Well, I am _certified_," he teased right back, brushing some dust off of his shoulders as they reached the elevator. Dick hit the call button as Roy stuck his tongue out at his friend.

The two boys listening to the whir of the machine as the elevator came up to their floor. The elevator dinged and the doors opened so the two stepped inside. Roy hit the button for the Lobby and soon they were heading down.

As the two stood there, Dick suddenly smirked. "Remember the time we sabotaged the elevator once and made the music become all creepy and the lights went out –"

"–and we made it stop between the 12th and 14th floors?" Roy finished, laughing. "Yeah, I totally remember that. Some people freaked out, they're _so_ superstitious and gullible… Oliver wasn't pleased, of course, and he was late for a meeting, too."

"Yeah," Dick sighed, grinning. "Man, we sure messed up this place a LOT of times…"

"Totally," Roy agreed, snickering.

Just then, the elevator dinged again, announcing their arrival at the lobby. The doors parted and the two boys stepped out together with their hands in their pockets as they scanned the crowd for their mentors (or, in Roy's case ex-mentor).

Dick spotted Bruce standing next to Oliver and nudged Roy, opening his mouth, about to point them out whenever he heard shrill screams coming from outside. Roy instantly shoved him to the ground just as an explosion blew open a section of the front wall (which was glass).

Dick stood up after it subsided, coughing and trying to see through the smoke and debris. As the air settled he managed to find Bruce again, who was just standing up with Oliver who was trying to slip away. Roy did the same thing and Dick realized why. They wanted to help and this was how they would…

WHY did they want to help, though? Surely the person who did this couldn't be that much of –

"Shit," Dick cursed under his breath when he saw the man standing in the middle of the big hole. He was scanning the crowd, obviously looking for someone.

Just then, the man's eyes landed on Bruce and Dick cursed again. This couldn't be good.

The man strutted over to where the billionaire of Gotham was standing at and stopped just a few feet in front of him with a smile on his face.

"Why hello Bruce," the man greeted in a sickeningly sweet way, "long time no see."

_**(A/N: HEY guys! I want to hear your response as to WHO you think this is? Any guesses? First person to get it right MIGHT get something =P Like a preview or a scene dedicated to them or something~~ ^-^**_

_**YAY! **_zotSOS_** there's your Roy for you! Lol I already had him planned in but you guessed it so =P**_

_**ANYHOO hope you guys liked it~ Already have 1/3 of the next chapter wrote so I hope to get it up soon, too! Love you all!**_

_**~KKCopper) **_


	10. The Clown Prince

_**(A/N: You guys flatter me! 17 reviews for chapter 9! =D Thanks so much!**_

_**as Lilrobin so aptly put, almost everyone guessed the Joker and well, sorry if it was obvious and stuff and sorry if he's always the person to attack BUT I LOVE the Joker, he's my all time favorite villain and I always imagined if something like this happened that Joker would be the first to act so… Villain revealed, here it is I hope you enjoy~~ ALSO, just cause I said I would, **_Random Under The Sun_** was the first person to guess it correctly so~ Yay you! ^-^ I PM'd you and I hope you like the mini gift from me~**_

_**NOW READ)**_

Bruce looked at the Joker with a stoic expression, not sure if the mad clown had heard the news yet or not.

Joker grabbed the billionaire's chin firmly in his bony hand and turned his head this way and that.

"Hm…" he mused as he released Bruce's chin, "are you sure _you're_ THE Batman? You just don't seem to have his… _gusto_."

Bruce instantly put on an innocent face. "Batman? What do you mean?"

Joker laughed his psychotic laugh, patting Bruce on one cheek. "Oh yes, as if you _don't_ know. Even in _Arkham_ we got the news, it's all we have to really entertain ourselves. It also helps us know when to break out, but that's beside the point. When I heard about it, I broke out instantly and used my Intel to stalk you down so I could pay you a little… _visit_." The Joker peered around him, craning his neck to scan the crowd.

"The Intel was _very_ good and I heard your little _Boy Blunder_ was here too, so where _is_ he?" the Joker asked, turning his yellow eyed gaze back to meet Bruce's eyes.

Bruce's expression instantly went from innocent to fierce. He silently slipped a hand behind his back, knowing that Dick was watching, and started to flash off signals to his son.

Dick saw the hand gestures and he knew what they meant. The Joker was looking for him and Bruce wanted him to run, flee, escape and not come back, and to NOT help. This is what Bruce wanted but Dick couldn't do that, he wouldn't. He did step back slowly, merging into the crowd, but escape was not his intent.

Joker cackled again at Bruce's face, not even noticing the exchange that had happened behind Bruce's back. "Now THAT was Batman-like, being protective for the boy like that and I can see your care for him in your eyes."

The Joker circled Bruce slowly, looking him up and down.

"You know, now that I think about it and I really compare you to that Dark Rodent you do have similarities. You both are very fit, and why would a rich brat like you need to be fit? Oh, right, because you go out as a vigilantly and fight crime at night," Joker paused in front of Bruce with a sneer on his face. "It makes perfect sense. Just admit it –" he leaned forward and whispered hoarsely in the billionaire's ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck rise "– you ARE the Dark Knight."

Bruce pressed his lips into a firm, thin line as Joker leaned back. When the clown saw his expression he instantly cackled. "THERE'S the stubborn ass Batsy I know… of course, I can't be sure until you admit it yourself. You can _never_ trust the media," Joker pointed out, wiggling his finger in the air. He took a step back, looking over one shoulder at his men.

"The boy, Dick Grayson, find him," he snapped firmly and the gunmen nodded, fanning out into the crowd of cowering rich people. The Joker looked back at the playboy with a psychotic grin as one of the men shot his gun in the air.

"EVERYONE DOWN, just _hand over_ the boy and no one has to get hurt!" he shouted.

All of the rich, "important" people shrieked, diving for the ground and instantly protecting their valuables before even covering their heads. How materialistic was that?

Dick cursed as the people around him zeroed in on just who he was like starving wolves looking at a meal. He could have easily fought off _most _of them but one man ended up being almost over three-times his size. Said man grabbed Dick by his arms before the boy could react. Dick struggled in his grasp and the man's hold only tightened.

"_You_ are not going to get us all _killed_ BOY," the man holding him growled harshly in his ear but Dick only continued to struggle, actually getting a little bit looser.

The man growled a bit louder before looking over Dick's head and at the man slowly fanning out in the crowd.

"He's right here!" the man shouted out to the gunmen. All of their heads snapped up and the one nearest them came over. He snatched Dick roughly away from the large rich man before knocking said man unconscious with the butt of his gun. He sneered at everyone around him and they all cowered in sudden fear.

Dick held back the urge to snort, stupid, _weak_ rich people.

The man who now had a tight hold on Dick began to head back to where Bruce and the Joker were waiting. They stopped about five feet away from Bruce and the Joker.

The clown headed over to Bruce's son. Said kid instantly put on a scared mask, hating to act like the people he'd just teased but they still had an act to keep up for a bit. He made himself appeared like a weak rich kid, cowering back a bit, even, whenever the Joker grabbed his chin like he had Bruce's and turned the boy's head this way and that.

Joker suddenly grinned and smacked Dick _hard_ across the face, making his head snap to one side. Dick didn't falter in his act, though, and kept his scared mask on; now adding shocked to the emotional mix.

"You're a good actor boy –" Joker started to say, running a finger along the boy's jaw line, but he was cut off mid-sentence.

"What if he's not acting, though? He's JUST a KID!" Lois Lane's voice shouted across the room, worry in her eyes for what could happen to the young boy.

Joker barked out a laugh before sending her a harsh glare. "You are stupid to speak up reporter lady! Plus you obviously don't know the Boy Blunder. His fighting skills and smarts are of that which is MUCH more than a mere _child's_!" He put a hand up as if to make what he was saying between him and Lois only. "Between you and me, I think he's just a midget adult playing kid!" Then Joker laughed again before turning back to look at Dick who actually WAS a bit frightened now, yet satisfied that Joker actually admired his skills a bit. It wasn't a crazy feeling, either, when most villains _treated_ you like a kid, it was nice to be appreciate for once.

Joker suddenly smacked Dick across the face again (only on the other cheek this time), as if to prove his point but the boy reacted the same way as the first time, much to Joker's slight displeasure.

Bruce's reaction, on the other hand, was entirely different.

"Stop!" he snapped fiercely. He knew Dick had been through _much_ worse but the Dark Knight hated to see Dick even being _poked_ by that mad man, so it drove him up a wall to see him get smacked around like that.

Joker turned his crazed expression to look at the billionaire. "Does this annoy you?" he all but purred, eyes widen and gleaming in a way that only a psycho's could. He stepped over to stand in front of Bruce and hiss in his face. "Then _admit_ it. I want to hear the words come from _your_ mouth _here _and NOW, not from some cops over the telley."

Bruce flashed Dick a quick glance and the boy shook his head slightly, telling Bruce wordlessly to not speak and that he could handle the slaps.

Bruce pressed his lips into a firm line, glaring down the Joker, this being his response.

The clown shrugged, leaning back away from Bruce's face. "Suit yourself," he said, turning back to face the raven-haired boy.

Just then, Bruce heard the soft _whoosh _of material being rubbed on as a knife slid out of the Joker's purple suit sleeve. He gripped the butt of it in his hand and grabbed one of Dick's arms with the other. Then he raised the blade to the large artery on the boy's wrist, slowly beginning to move the blade against the boy's soft skin –

Suddenly, a bat-a-rang knocked the blade out of the clown's hand, sending it flying across the room, embedding itself in a wall, whilst at the same time an arrow knocked out the man holding Dick.

Bruce leapt up and punched Joker square in the jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. Bruce stood over him ferociously, hands clenched into fists at his side. "I'm the GOD DAM BATMAN, _alright_?" he shouted at the fallen villain.

Joker chuckled, hard a slow as he propped himself up on one elbow, wiping some blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he grinned crazily at Bruce. "Excellent," he purred hoarsely. He motioned with his hands and suddenly Batman and Robin were encircled by Joker's henchmen, back to back, with the clown still inside the circle. Both vigilantes got into a sparring stance, ready to fight their ways out.

Bruce's left hand twitched when he heard two soft sounds from either side of him. It was the sound of a rope being pulled taught…

Bruce quickly pushed Dick down just as eight arrows (four red and four green, mind you) knocked out all of the men in the circle, minus the Joker, in one fluid movement.

Green Arrow and Red Arrow dropped down from the balconies and risers above, landing on either side of the Dynamic Duo with their bows loaded and aimed at the Joker.

Joker cackled, still propped up on one elbow on the ground. "Of course the _Arrows_ would come and help out –"

"It_ is_ our city," Green Arrow interrupted with a growl.

Joker laughed again, sitting himself up. "Yes, yes I _know_," he purred, "but I thought you two –" he gestured to Roy and Oliver "– had split up and yet, here you are to help out Batsy and his Little Bird, how perfectly _tragic_."

Red Arrow growled. "We got over it," he told the Joker just as Green Arrow said, "How so?"

Joker grinned slowly. "Well, it's just a bigger audience for _mwah_."

All four hero's eyes widened, but Bruce was the first to react.

"What do you mean?" he growled harshly and Joker just beamed wildly. Batman's left hand began to shake a bit, out of anger, at this. He'd about had it with the psycho's taunting. Lucky him, before he could go all crazy Bats on the clown, Green Arrow stepped in for him.

Oliver stared down the man unwaveringly. He had his bow taught and loaded, turning it on the mad man. "Put your hands up where we can see them NOW with_ no_ funny business and you won't get hurt," he said firmly.

Joker turned his psychotic grin to look at Green Arrow. "If you insist," he said smoothly and his hands whipped out from behind him. A glint of light reflecting off of something caught Dick's eyes… Whatever it was appeared to be –

BANG!

"Ah –"

_Thwip!_

…

All of it happened so fast that only one person hand time to react, the one with his bow loaded. He hit the Joker on the temple in a second, but it still wasn't fast enough.

The clown prince fell unconscious to the ground as blood began to pool on the floor…

_**(A/N: HOW could I make it such an EVIL Cliffhanger? WELL I just did XP Sorry! Couldn't resist folks!**_

_**YAY! I got to use my favorite line her *I'd been trying to figure out how to work it in and I finally did!* "I'm the god dam Batman!" hehe ^-^~~**_

_**ANYHOO sorry for the shortness! I just BARELY made me 2,000 word mandate *YES I always make every chapter at LEAST 2,000 words, it's how I keep them not TERRIBLY short.**_

_**I hope you guys liked it! As always, please review!) **_


	11. Hobble 'long

_**(A/N: xD OKAY so do you guys remember that a/n I had one chappie one about BIG PLANS for this story..? HEY don't worry, it'll still be here and rather long but my ideas *that are left* are all about WAAAYYYY in the future of this story. BUT with reviews and favs still coming in way after my latest update, I've been driven to try and push past it so thanks for the encouragement~**_

_**YOU GUYS JUST ALL ROCK! =O Thank you for making me smile~**_

_**I HOPE to make up for the last chapter's shortness with this chapter, but not QUITE sure how it's gonna play out yet… got a BAD case of writer's block again! xD Wish me luck)**_

Dick realized what was in the clown's hand just as the bang went off…. It was a gun and it was pointed right at him.

The sound of the firing seemed to echo in the stunned and scared room. Dick choked out a gasp as the bullet pierced him deep in his thigh. He doubled over in pain, falling to the ground and clutching his wound while Green Arrow knocked out the Joker with one of his arrows.

The second the Joker was unconscious, Bruce was squatted down next to him. Roy was at the Boy Wonder's side in an instant, too, propping him up while Bruce began to go over his vitals. Dick gasped, quickly biting his lip to stop a shout from coming out as Bruce growled under his breath, pulling his hand away from the wound. The billionaire looked up at Green Arrow.

"It entered at a terrible angle, affecting his bone badly, I'm willing to bet," he explained. "We need to get him out of here. I've already called the police so they'll be here soon and they can handle it from here." His voice was stern and had the usual Batman ring of authority in it. Green Arrow nodded and pulled out his comm. unit.

"HQ or Mountain?" he asked quickly, glancing at Bruce who was now ripping off part of his cape and binding the wound tightly.

"Mountain," Bruce grunted as he picked up Dick, despite the boy's protests. Green Arrow nodded and contacted the Watchtower.

"Manhunter, this is GA, requesting a beam for four, three fine and one injured, to the Mountain ASAP," he said quickly and firmly.

"_Understood, beam coming,"_ J'onn replied instantly and the familiar green light surrounded the four before they were gone.

…. …. …. …. ….

"Lame… no way… repeat, _boring_… la- WAIT!" Kid Flash said as he watched Artemis flip through the channels. He was the one deciding what the Team would watch for a while but the archer had been getting fed up with his lack of ability to make a simple decision. They'd just passed another News Station when he'd screamed to stop, flying to a sitting position (he had been lying down).

Artemis scowled, going back. "Seriously, the new-" she started to say but KF shushed her with a wave of the hand and they all looked at the screen.

It was the Joker, blowing up the front of Queen Industries. The camera zoomed in on –

All five teams jumped, so intently focused on the news coverage that the sudden sound of the Zeta Beam whirring up startled them.

"_Recognized – Batman 02, Green Arrow 08, Red Arrow B06, Robin B01,"_ the computer rattled off as said four heroes stepped in. The Team rose when they realized Batman and Robin were both in their civvies… and that Robin was bleeding.

"Rob!" Kid Flash exclaimed, running over to Batman's side in surprise. Robin smirked at him as Batman headed along briskly to the Medical Bay, ignoring the young speedster.

"Dude, chill I _just_ got shot," he said, rolling his eyes, and then pointedly looking at Bruce, "I've been through worse," he said a bit louder, pronouncing each word very clearly to express his annoyance, "so _don't_ over-react."

Bruce growled softly at his son who grumbled under his breath in response, folding his arms across his chest as he continued to be carried.

The rest of the Team followed behind the Dark Knight and the Arrows as they went to the Medical Bay. Batman made them all stay out though when he got there, saying he had to get the bullet out and needed space.

So there they all stood in a big cluster outside the door, waiting anxiously while Kaldur and Kid Flash asked what happened.

Roy started to explain, "Joker came in, having seen the whole news bit about Bruce being Batman and wanted to hear it from Bruce's mouth himself. Bruce wouldn't talk so Joker found Dick. Just as Joker almost cut Dick's large artery on his wrist, Batman stepped in, revealing himself as the Dark Knight by knocking the knife out of the Joker's hand with a bat-a-rang. Then Green Arrow and I stepped in and helped them fight off the rest of the goons but Joker, at the last second, decided to whip out a gun before any of us could react and he hit Dick in the thigh… Batman said it went in at a weird angle, he might have fractured his femur a bit."

The team nodded, each reacting to it in a different way. Superboy seemed angered by it (as he usually was) and, surprisingly, Wally and Kaldur seemed pretty peeved too. Megan looked sad and worried about her friend's health, trying to see if there was a way to look into the room while Artemis simply had a cold, brooding look on her face.

The seven heroes and partners waited patiently (or, in the speedster's case, NOT so patiently) outside of the door to the medical room the little bird was in while Bruce worked on him.

About twenty minutes later, the door opened and Batman stepped out, now in his costume (no one knew HOW but they didn't question it). All fourteen eyes looked at him expectantly as he took in a deep breath before speaking.

"He'll be fine," he told them and they all sighed in relief. "He did fracture his femur, like I'd feared, though. I removed the bullet, stitched it up and now he has a cast on… He should wake up in about ten or so minutes."

With that, the Dark Knight stepped aside, heading down the hall as the Team and Roy (Oliver following Bruce) crammed into the medium-sized hospital-like room. M'gann sat next to her friend and gently brushed some hair out of his eyes while most everyone else was looking at his cast.

Kid Flash scowled, "Man, I'd hate to have a cast on."

Superboy nodded in agreement. "Poor Robin, it would definitely be a pain in the a-" he started to say but one look from both Kaldur and Green Arrow made him change his mind on the wording "-ah…rmpit." **(1)**

Roy rolled his eyes at Superboy's choice of words and was about to comment when the raven-haired boy suddenly stirred.

The room quickly went silent as light blue eyes opened and looked around blearily, not really focusing on anything. Then, Robin moaned, placing a hand on his head.

"Stupid anesthetic," he grumbled, "always gives me a_ migraine_…"

These words seemed to release everyone from their trance. They all moved at once, some going to his side (like Wally) while others simply moved their hands, staying put.

"Hey Robin, how are you doing?" Roy asked first just as Wally had opened his mouth to speak.

Robin shrugged, ignoring the glare the speedster had sent at Roy. "I'm fine, just sort of… _out of _it." He yawned just then as if to prove his point.

Roy nodded and Wally quickly stepped in.

"Do you need anything?" he asked and Robin rolled his eyes.

"You guys act like I've been out for hours instead of minutes," he told them, but then he thought about it. "Actually…" he wrinkled his nose, "I'm kind of hungry for a sandwich –"

"Robin, you might not want to be eating quite yet, in fact I'd rather you wait for a bit. You know how your system reacts to the medicine, it might make you sick."

Everyone reacted to the sudden new voice except Robin who just looked at his mentor.

"GAH!" Wally said. "HOW do you _do_ that?"

Superboy looked shocked too. "Yeah, I mean I have super hearing and yet I'm never able to hear you."

Batman smirked a bit. "It's called _practice_, and don't feel insulted, Superman usually can't hear me either."

Superboy rolled his eyes, folding his hands across his chest. "THAT'S real comforting, we all know Superman never pays attention to his surroundings when he's distracted, so of course you sneak up on him," he joked. He and the other Kryptonian had gotten on good terms a few months ago and were now actually kind of close, but they still liked to pick fun at each other.

Robin snickered. "Well of course we know that, who else would you have inherited that trait from?"

"_Hey_!" Superboy protested and everyone just laughed (you know, minus Superboy and Batman *who rarely laughs*), lightening the mood dramatically.

Robin sighed and looked at his mentor, scrunching up his expression. "So… no food?" he confirmed.

Batman shook his head, a stern look in his eyes. "Not yet, you need to wait for your stomach to settle a bit first before trying to put anything in it."

Robin nodded. "Alright, I… uh-nderstand," he replied around a yawn, shaking his head against his sudden fatigue.

Instantly, Batman started moving everyone out of the room. "He needs to rest, you can come back later," was his reasoning and no one argued with him. Once everyone was out, though, Bruce paused in the door his usual stoic expression replaced by a fatherly one.

"Press the call button if you need anything Robin," he told his son softly.

"I love you dad," Dick replied with a slight smile on his face.

Bruce smiled back. "I love you too micul meu pasăre," he replied before turning off the lights to the room and shutting the door quietly behind him.

... ... ... ...

Dick grunted as he hobbled over to the couch in the middle of the large room (or rather cavern). He'd voted to stay here for the past four days, saying that this place was practically his second home and Bruce reluctantly agreed after setting the terms of his getting checked on once every day. Dick consented with grace, not minding in the least.

So now, here he was, on crutches plopped down on the couch in the living room at the Mountain. At the moment, Superboy and Miss Martian were the only other ones there, but it was early in the day and also a weekend, so others would be arriving soon.

Dick sighed as he set his crutches ( or "infernal walking sticks" as Wally had so graciously nicknamed them) next to him on the couch before flipping on the TV. He surfed through the channels and discovered there wasn't much to watch that was interesting or new, so he picked up the paper on the coffee table next to him and skimmed over the title for the fortieth time. He swore he knew the article by heart now, but he couldn't help reading it again.

The paper in his hands had come out four days ago in the wee-hours of the morning, winning the grand honor of being the first tabloid to have a story out about Bruce's reveal at the Queen Industries banquet. The picture there on the front page of the Daily Planet was that of Bruce throwing at bat-a-rang at the Joker whilst being in his civvies and the bold, obnoxious title there captured your eyes very easily.

"**He's Not Who We Thought"**

Dick shivered. It was such a… almost rude title, like he felt like it was saying, "He's a leper! He's different, he's a liar! Shun!" and he hated it. So what he was a hero? If anything, people should respect him more now for it, he save lives he wasn't JUST a stuck-up playboy who was spoiled, no he was much more than that.

Of course, some people _saw_ it that way. The Daily Planet was NOT by far the only paper to post about this new piece of confirmed news; in fact it was only one of hundreds around the world with that story as its headline. Bruce had made sure to get his hands on every different version and interpretation, too. He had stacks at the manor of all the magazines and newspapers he'd acquired because of it.

Dick had read through all of them, most from the U.S. but some were even from over-seas. He'd organized them yesterday when he'd gotten bored into piles of how the article viewed them. All-in-all, at the end he had three different stacks. The first one (the one that had the most) was the "He's Different!" view on things, the second one (the one with the least) was the "He's a Hero!" view and the last one was the "He's still a PLAYBOY" or "This Doesn't Change Anything" point of view and it was the one that had an amount somewhere in the middle…

Dick chuckled to himself when he suddenly remembered one of the stories he'd read on the incident. It had been his favorite one by far and it'd been published in Australia of all places. The title had been lengthy but quite funny, **"Psycho Clowns Taken Down by Billionaire and Ward"**. In said article there'd been now Arrows, Dick hadn't been shot, there'd been no acting or signs of weakness and "70 some henchmen" had repelled down through a skylight with their "Jester Leader" in charge with a whip. Dick laughed a little more; it was so far-fetched it was comical.

"Morning Dick!" a soft voice suddenly greeted and Dick turned and saw Miss Martian and Superboy walking into the room.

"Hey guys," he greeted back with a grin.

Miss Martian flew over and plopped down next to him. She instantly worked on his leg, propping it up on a pillow on the table in front of him. Dick blushed, feeling helpless.

"Thanks Miss M," he said and she nodded.

"No problem, do you need anything?" she questioned, only concerned and wanting to help her friend.

Dick shook his head. "Nah I'm okay for now."

Miss M grinned. "Okay then, if you need anything I'll be making biscuits!" With that she headed into the kitchen and Connor (surprisingly) plopped down next to him. He grinned.

"Wanna play some Call of Duty?" he asked a glint in his eyes. Ever since Wally and Dick had introduced the game to him, he'd been addicted and wanted to play whenever he could.

Dick laughed, liking the challenge. "Oh you are SO on!"

With that, the two boys quickly hooked up the Xbox and sounds of gunfire rang out mixed with their laughter while humming drifted in from the kitchen. It was such a peaceful, normal scene and Dick silently wished it would last forever. It was nice to mot be freaking out because of reporters or constantly fighting crime all the time… just being a normal teen hanging with his friends was a nice change of pace.

"_I wish it could stay like this for a while,"_ Dick thought to himself as he shot down another man with a laugh, being a ninja really was an advantage in this game. _"God, please give me at least two or three days of peace. I need some time down… please?"_

Turns out, two days would be all he'd get.

_**(A/N: GAH that could mean SO many things! ^-^ WELL I seriously hope you guys liked this xD the ball started rolling again and ideas came… but I feel like it didn't flow as smoothly… Maybe it was because I took so many breaks, but did it sound good to you guys? Feel free to flame a bit if I did a bad job xD I need to know so I can fix it for next time.**_

_**NOW review! =D )**_


	12. When Two Days Are Up

_**(A/N: *hides* I'm SOOOO sorry I haven't updated! D= I was stuck here for a while, but I have ideas for AFTER this already written so hopefully the next update won't be so… far away XD.**_

_**By the way this song is **__**"How You Remind Me" by NICKELBACK**__** *the best band EVER O_O… next to Daughtry of course* Now, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the reviews! A special thanks to **_Protector Korii_** *like HUGE thanks, this wouldn't be updated right now without her* for helping me through my latest writer's block~ She rocks ^-^ if you haven't read any of her stories you are MISSING OUT!**_

_**OH and no Slash here~ Just Wally being a good brother~ *because him and Dick are basically that, BORTHERS, nothing more [in this story]***_

_**NOW enjoy~~)**_

**2 Days Later**

"_I never made it as a wise man…_

_I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealin',"_

"…"

"_Tired of living like a blind man…_

_I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling,_

_And this is how you remind me –"_

"DICK!"

Dick's eyes opened up and he saw his friend standing there in front of him. He paused the song and pulled out one ear bud. "Yes Wally?"

Wally sighed, annoyed at how long it'd taken him to get his friend attention. Of course, he COULD have just tapped him but he remembered what had happened the last time he did that and didn't wish to relive it. (Dick had flipped him, pinning one arm behind his back and shoving his face into the ground in under a second and BOY had it hurt!).

"Um… I forgot," he mused and Dick rolled his eyes, about to comment when Wally snapped his fingers.

"OH! Wait, I remember. Batman called a bit ago, he says he's moving you back to the house and that he'll be here in just a little bit, of course he called a few minutes ago –"

Dick cut him off his eyes wide; Batman never liked it if he slacked when he wanted to go somewhere. He would have stood up and smacked Wally, but his leg held him back, so instead he settled for whacking one of his idiot friend's legs with his crutches.

"OW!" Wally complained, now holding his knee to his chest as he hopped on one foot.

"That's what you get for not telling me sooner! You know how Bats gets when I'm late! WHY did you NOT tell me sooner _anyways_?" Dick asked impatiently as he stood up and started to head towards his room, glancing over his shoulder to glare at Wally (who followed) as he went.

"Yeah I know, and I tried but…" Wally rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I didn't want you to _attack_ me if I tapped you or something cause I KNOW its instinct and, first off, it hurts me, and second, with your leg the way it is it would hurt you!"

Dick sighed, still smirking a bit, though, at his friend's reasoning. "Hm… now I'm not sure if I should be thanking you or if I should thwack you again…" Dick mused to himself while Wally prayed for the first option.

Dick shrugged. "I'll decide later," he informed his friend before heading along to his room and typing in the key code for it. The door swooshed open and Dick stepped inside.

Just then, the two boys paused when they heard the Zeta Beam whirl up.

"_Recognized –Batman 02,"_ the computer announced and Dick cursed, about to head out and explain to his mentor why he wasn't ready when he felt a breeze go by him. He turned around and saw his friend standing there, the room behind him clean, with Dick's bag in his hand.

"Here, I figured, of course, I owe you," Wally mumbled sheepishly and Dick shook his head, grinning as he took the bag and throwing it over his shoulder before readjusting his crutches acordingly.

"Thank you Wall-man," Dick replied with a grin and Wally nodded before the two headed out into the main room where Bruce was standing.

"Are you ready to go?" Bruce asked and Dick nodded, adjusting his backpack when it started to slip off of his shoulder. Before he could, though, Bruce took it from him and Dick sighed.

"One question, though," Dick said right as Bruce started to walk away. His guardian paused and looked at him.

"Yes?" he persisted, urging him to continue.

"Why am I going back home? I mean, I love it there, but here is nice too and wouldn't I be safer here?" Dick questioned curiously.

"Now that everyone knows where the Batcave is, we need to up the security so I'm bringing you back to do that," Bruce explained gruffly. "You will be working on the technological half of it, due to your injury and better knowledge in that field, while I will do the grunt work."

Dick nodded with a smirk on his face at his father was actually kind of admitting that HE was better with technology. "Okay," he agreed.

Bruce nodded curtly before Dick said good bye to Wally and the two of them headed over to the Zeta Beams.

"_Recognized – Batman 02, Robin B01," _the computer said before it whirred up and the two were gone.

…. …. …. …. ….

Dick sighed as he sat at the Batcave computer, his crutches leaning up against it next to him. He thrummed his fingers on the keyboard with one hand as the other moved easily through the steps of installing various cameras and other devices Bruce had set up today as well as get them all linked up to both his and Bruce's writs computers. He felt so useless at the moment, despite all of the technological things he'd been doing as the day progressed.

Dick sighed as he did a few more things before he sort of stopped. He stared blankly at the computer screen, various thoughts running through his mind as he did. Eventually he wasn't even focusing on what was in front of him as he continued to muse in his head.

"_I never would have thought that my life would change so drastically, ever. It never even crossed my thoughts once that this is what would happen, well, not this way. I though Batman and Robin would never be exposed, heck, I even planned on being a hero in college. My whole future has changed because of this or, well, my thoughts on my future…_

_Why is the press taking this whole thing the way they are anyways? They were dragging the story to a whole different level, exaggerating it in ways to make it sick and twisted beyond recognition. Heroes are the good guys; we've been saving their lives for YEARS are here they are making everyone believe we are basically as bad as murders now! They make us sound like we were hiding because we are bad or something. It's like they're pointing blame at us, but for what? What have we REALLY done wrong besides self defense and the defense of those we care for? Our identities only help keep us and them safe, not hurt anyone else._

_Of course, journalists are stupid. You can never speak safely too them without fear of it being twisted. Most of them are just in it for the money while others treat it like a story with a plot to be twisted and molded to their own liking until it's so interesting that it's basically lie, fiction! I don't get the appeal of ruining someone's life or reputation just to give amusement to others…_

_I wonder how long it will take them to go after the others, and who will they go after first? Maybe Oliver, since he's a non meta too. Will they really be able to connect Artemis through him? Her name isn't very creative, but, I mean I can understand Roy but Arty and Oliver aren't really related at all._

_Will we all stay heroes once everyone finds out or not? I mean, we still have people to save, that won't change, but now the villains will know who to go after…_

_Will anyone else be discovered even? Maybe Bruce and I are just a casualty to show everyone else how to hide better, we were being too lax, we needed to up our guards and we just didn't see it ourselves. Sometimes things need to happen in order to force change, but why to us? Why –"_

"Master Richard," Alfred's voice rang through Dick's wrist computer.

"Yeah Alfred?" Dick answered.

"Tell Master Bruce he needs to come upstairs, he seems to have turned off his wrist computer and there are people upstairs waiting for him," Alfred told the young boy. Dick thought he heard the butler add something under his breath but he didn't ask.

"Yeah, he'll be up in a second," Dick said before spinning the chair around and getting up with his crutches.

Dick headed through the cave and down to the floor Bruce was on. He sighed and limped over. "Bruce," he said and his father looked over, "Alfred wants you upstairs, says some people are here for you."

Bruce nodded, not commenting on who it was, he was pretty sure he knew. He'd feared them finally coming, but what more could they do to him at this point. Bruce sighed and headed over to Dick and the two got back into the elevator.

Bruce noticed Dick hadn't hit the button to get back off at the main floor of the cave; instead, the only button lit up was the one for the mansion.

"Are you coming up too?" Bruce asked him cautiously and Dick shrugged.

"I kind of wanted to get a snack or do homework, plus I'm basically done on the computer anyways," Dick told him and Bruce grunted. He didn't really want Dick up there because he knew he could be a target for his "guests", but there was no stopping the boy so he allowed it.

The elevator dinged, announcing their arrival to the desired floor before the doors whooshed open. Dick hobbled out and headed to the kitchen while Bruce paused in the hallway. He cursed when he suddenly heard a swarm of voice and rushed to "rescue" his son.

Dick cursed when the swarm of reporters greeted him the second they heard him enter the kitchen. He swore they were half wolf or something, how else could they have heard him or known he was there?

Also, how did they get in?

"Dick, what was your reaction to the Joker when he attacked?"

"Has crime been any harder for you because of the recent turn of events?"

"How have your friends been treating you?"

"Dick! Is –"

Bruce growled and shoved his way to his son's side. He noted the butler standing near a doorway with a concerned look on his face, but Bruce just gave him a nod, saying he could handle this. Alfred nodded back but didn't move from his spot.

Dick glared at the reporters as more questions were fired rapidly, especially now that Bruce was here.

"Bruce, has your work environment changed any recently because of this?"

"Bruce! Why did you allow for Dick to be hurt?"

"How –"

"Silence!" Bruce suddenly snapped and everyone grew quiet. He took in a deep breath and knew he'd have to answer some of their questions or else they'd never leave, but he'd have to be careful with his words. Also, if he was going to do this he would do it on his time and on his terms.

"I will only answer a few questions, my son needs to eat so if you'll all be so kind as to let him get THROUGH," Bruce said and everyone quickly parted for Dick. The fact that Bruce would answer some questions willingly made them a lot more cooperative towards him.

"Now, let us take this to the living room," Bruce said calmly and headed off while the reporters quickly followed. Bruce sat down in his arm chair and looked at them all. "Sit," he told them and they did. "I wish to treat this more like a press conference so that means hand raising and not just shouting out your answers. I am obliged to not answer what I please and pick who I please; if my rules are not followed I will have to make you all leave."

There was a pause and Bruce smirked slightly at how much they were behaving. "You may ask now," he said simply and all of the hands in front of him shot up. Bruce began pointing out people and the questions rolled, most involved how this had affected him and how the news about it had affected him. He mostly favored questions from Gotham Gazette or the Daily Planet, he didn't want too many things to be global but he knew every reporter was soaking up his answer no matter if it was directed towards them or not. Bruce compared them to starving men, looking for whatever "food" they can get their hands on, even if it's not theirs.

Dick had wandered into the room with a sandwich in one hand at one point and he answered a few questions also. Bruce was being very picky with which ones he would answer and which ones he wouldn't. He felt as though he'd answered a lot already but they just kept coming.

Finally, though, someone asked the question Bruce had been dreading the entire time.

Bruce had chosen to answer a question from a man named Chad from the New York Inquirer and the man was happy to supply to Bruce what was on his mind.

"How closely are your two lives intertwined Mr. Wayne? Has one being exposed to the other been disruptive towards both? Also, did the heroes know your identity before this and are you willing to share with us any of the identities of the other heroes with us?"

Bruce's hands clenched into a fist, his muscles flexing as he glared at the now smirking Chad.

"I refuse to answer any of that, also I will not confirm or deny knowing any of the other heroes' identities or them knowing mine prior to this situation," Bruce growled firmly, rising from his chair. "This meeting is dismissed, now everyone get out! No more questions!"

Just as everyone started to leave and Bruce had thought that he'd gotten the last word, he was proven wrong.

Chad met Bruce's gaze, still smirking and said simply, "Mind if I quote you on that?"

_**(A/N: Sorry if this sucks, my beta-y friend wasn't on to help me tweak the last half so I just posted it! I wanted to get this up for you all today and I hope you enjoyed it! As mentioned in the prior A/N I have the next chapter partially written so it will hopefully be up quicker than this one was, but I was pushing a boulder uphill with this chapter. The next one won't be as hard.**_

_**Review!)**_


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